Dentist in a van service may lead to new surgery
A mobile dentist service is to be launched for people living in Chedburgh and the surrounding villages, early next month.
The weekly service is to be run as a temporary measure to allow NHS Suffolk to assess the level of demand for dental services in the area.
The van is fitted with the latest in hi-tech equipment including digital x-ray facilities.
It is to be launched on September 7 and patients will be able to have general dental work carried out including check ups, scaling and polishing, filling and extractions.
The new service will also be accessible to people with disabilities.
Clare Banyard, head of primary care at NHS Suffolk said "Over the last two years NHS Suffolk has spent almost 4 million in increasing access to dental services across the county and this new mobile service will help us assess what need exists for a dental surgery in the Chedburgh area."
The service is set to be trialled for 10 weeks.
It will be based every Tuesday at The Erskine Centre in Chevington Road, Chedburgh from September 7 through to November 16 and will be open from 11am to 3pm.
The Chedburgh van is only the second mobile dentist in Suffolk. The first scheme was trialled in Stradbroke in June and has proved so popular that it was kept on.
An NHS spokesman said that depending on the van's success in Cheburgh, the village could get a more permanent mobile service, or if really popular it could even get its own surgery.
The service has been commissioned by NHS Suffolk and will be operated by Harmoni HS, the county's out of hours GP and dental service provider.
Appointments for the service can be made by ringing the NHS Suffolk Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 389 6819.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Thursday 24 May 2012
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