Dentists recruited from overseas for NHS work 36pt
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Your support makes all the difference.DENTISTS from Sweden, Denmark and South Africa are being hired to work in the UK to provide the NHS treatment for patients which British dentists increasingly refuse to offer.
One dental practice in East Anglia has brought in five dentists from overseas after failing to recruit staff in Britain, while the Welsh Office last week launched a scheme with a pounds 20,000 advertising budget for overseas recruitment of desperately needed NHS dentists for Wales.
The moves to recruit abroad come as many areas of the UK suffer from an increasingly serious shortage of NHS dentists, as practitioners move towards more private work. This is made worse by a lack of trained dentists and greater demand for treatment.
But in parts of Europe and South Africa there is a surplus of dentists. John G Plummer and Associates, which is an entirely NHS practice in Great Yarmouth, has two dentists from Denmark and three from South Africa. John Plummer said: "We tried to recruit here but failed. Attracting dentists to extremities like Great Yarmouth or parts of Wales is difficult."
Under the Welsh Office scheme, dentists moving in to areas of the principality from overseas or elsewhere in Britain will get up to pounds 50,000 in start- up money in return for carrying out NHS work.
Stuart Geddes, Welsh secretary of the British Dental Association, said: "There is a shortage for a number of reasons. Three dental schools have been closed and output is down by about 150 a year. Treatment demand has increased, particularly in the National Health Service.
"In some areas of Europe there is a surplus of dentists. In Denmark, for instance, there is one dentist for every 900 people compared to one for 2,500 here.
"The Welsh scheme is worth pounds 3m and means that dentists will get start- up grants of between pounds 25,000 and pounds 50,000 for moving to specific areas where there are problems. In return they will sign a contract to do 35 hours of NHS work a week."
When he launched the Welsh package, Rod Richards, Minister for Health in Wales, said: "Dentists considering a move to Wales will find a very warm welcome from patients and health authorities."
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