NHS dental practices and their patients will benefit from a programme of capital investment of £100 million over two years announced by health minister Rosie Winterton, recently.

Designed to improve and modernise dental practices across the country, the capital investment supports dentists in modernising premises and equipment to improve services for patients, and allow Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to give greater financial support to help dentists establish practices or to upgrade existing ones.

The investment will be made available to the NHS, through Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs), over the next two years to take forward infrastructure improvements for NHS primary dental care services. This builds on the £80 million capital investment already going towards modernising dental education establishments and supporting the 25 per cent expansion in dental training places.

Rosie Winterton said, “I have visited many dental practices over the last three years, some of which would clearly benefit from modernising their premises or upgrading their equipment. These dentists are providing services of a high quality but working in environments which could be improved with greater capital investment.”

The £100 million of capital funding will be given to (SHAs), to disseminate to local PCTs.