A new dental nurse cadet scheme has been launched in Oldham that will see 17 new trainees heading for Oldham's dental surgeries. The scheme, the first of its kind, is modelled on the nurse cadet scheme and could ease the burden on NHS dentists.
The cadets have already been through 12 weeks at The Oldham College, and will now go into surgeries for four days each week to learn their trade by a dentist's side. They will eventually obtain NVQ levels 2 and 3, and at the end of two years they will be fully qualified dental nurses.
The scheme was developed by Oldham's consultant in dental public health Colette Bridgman with Donna Hough from the Workforce Confederation and Tony Spencer from The Oldham College and is part of a national push to bring more dentists to the NHS and to enable dental teams to deliver aspects of dentistry traditionally carried out by dentists.
“The idea of the scheme has been to provide high quality training, to encourage more young people into NHS dentistry, and of course to enable dentists to focus on work which only they can do.” explained Colette.
The PCT has also been working closely with local dentists to test new ways of working in a pilot scheme running since November 2003, which is also being looked at as an example of national good practice.
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New dental nurse scheme launched. Vital 1, 6 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/vital232
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/vital232
