Stephen Kinnock, minister of care, visited the University of Bristol Dental School to witness the positive impact the £36m clinical education facility is having on people living in the city.

As a Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered facility, the students at the University of Bristol provide direct dental care to the local community under the supervision of qualified clinicians.

The minister heard about the positive contributions the students have made to the local community in the first academic year, including:

  • Providing 18,000 free patient dental appointments
  • Treating 1,500 patients referred through NHS111 for urgent dental care, doubling the capacity of urgent appointments in Bristol
  • Supporting nearly 400 children to be seen and treated by students from 11 local primary schools
  • Working with BrisDoc Homeless Health Service to establish a formal referral pathway for homeless patients
  • Working with local charity Bridge2Aid to provide oral health education to 90 carers looking after nearly 700 residents across Bristol

Bristol Dental School trains dental undergraduates, dental therapists, and dental nurse trainees as well as offering postgraduate programmes that aim to upskill the dental workforce. The minister met with dental undergraduates and found out more about their future career ambitions within the NHS.

During his visit, Stephen learnt about the school’s investment in digital dentistry and its future ambition to support digital innovation, working with the NHS and industry partners. He also discovered how the school can support the growth in training places outlined within the ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’.

Stephen said, “Visiting Bristol Dental School was a fantastic opportunity to see the vital work they are doing to support the local community – including doubling the number of urgent appointments, their work with schools to reach children who might not otherwise see a dentist and investing in technology to support our shift from analogue to digital.

“We inherited a broken NHS dentistry service where patients can’t get an appointment for love nor money. But strengthening the workforce and reforming the NHS dental contract are key to this government’s commitment to rebuilding dentistry through our ‘10-Year Plan’ for the NHS.”

Photographs courtesy of the University of Bristol.

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