Dunbar dental unit hit by fresh delay

A CONTRACTUAL delay means Thurso’s new NHS dental clinic will not now open until after the New Year holiday period.

The £1.2 million unit adjoining the town’s Dunbar Hospital was completed in February as part of a special Scottish Government funding package to target dental health black spots.

NHS Highland had hoped the new surgery would be up and running by now. But it yesterday acknowledged that schedule has been put back as a result of a hold-up in the completion of the lease of the premises.

In the first tie-up of its kind in Scotland, independent practitioner John Barry will operate the clinic with the proviso that 80 per cent of its activity is devoted to NHS work.

The new four-surgery unit has the potential to register 6000 patients, which would soak up the 4600-plus currently on the waiting list for NHS registration in Caithness.

Mr Barry recently reopened his former private practice in Thurso’s Bridgend Health Centre, which closed a year ago after the former operators went bankrupt.

Mr Barry also runs a dental business based in the town’s enterprise park.

He yesterday said finalising the lease for the Dunbar is taking longer than expected. He is gearing up to have the surgery ready to treat its first patients on January 9 when three dentists are due to be based there.

Mr Barry said the new clinic will make a big impact on the waiting list but he warned it would take some time.

“I am only allowed to see people in the order they are on the list,” said Mr Barry. “It’s probably going to take us at least a year to get through the list. I don’t want people to think everyone is going to get access from day one.” He added that the reopening of Bridgend has given extra choice for patients wishing to obtain private treatment.

Alex Fraser, NHS Highland’s dental service development manager, said: “The new clinic at Dunbar Hospital will significantly improve access to NHS dental services in Caithness.

“Once fully staffed, it will have the capacity to register 6000 patients. It had been hoped that the new facility would be open by the end of the summer, but we are still finalising the lease agreement.

“The dentist is now hoping to open the clinic for patients in January.”

The new surgery was funded by a £5.6m initiative to improve NHS dental provision in Thurso, Dingwall, Inverness, Oban and Campbeltown.