Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed the announcement that the University of Portsmouth (UoP) has been granted Dental Authority Status (DAS) by the government, to help tackle the region’s critical dentist shortage.
As the government’s major NHS dentistry reforms, announced last month, begin to expand access to urgent care, the UoP has taken a significant step towards opening the first dental school in the South-East of England.
Its current Dental Academy, which trains dental nurses, dental hygienists, and dental therapists, has been granted Dental Authority Status (DAS) by the Department of Health and Social Care.
This is a mandatory requirement for all UK institutions that want to provide a degree in dentistry and will allow UoP to do so once a dental school is established.
The announcement builds on the transformative reforms to NHS dentistry confirmed by Ministers in recent weeks, which will prioritise patients with urgent and complex needs while expanding access to local dental appointments.
The University’s dental school ambition will help train the next generation of dentists needed to deliver on these reforms for Portsmouth and the wider region.
Portsmouth faces a critical shortage of NHS dental services, with the region having the lowest headcount of NHS dentists per 100,000 people in the region.
The news follows Mr Morgan’s extensive efforts to address Portsmouth’s dental desert, including working with the British Dental Association, raising concerns regularly in the House of Commons, meeting with local dentists, launching a Portsmouth patient survey to lobby for improvements; and calling for action on contract reform and improvements to recruitment and retention in the sector.
Having worked alongside the University to help achieve this positive development for the community, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“The recently announced major NHS dentistry reforms mark a turning point for Portsmouth patients who have suffered under a dental desert for too long.
“The statistics speak for themselves – 24% of patients in the South-East who tried to see an NHS dentist in the previous two years were unable to do so.
“The government’s commitment to expanding urgent care and prioritising patients with complex needs is exactly what our city needs.
“The University of Portsmouth’s fantastic achievement of Dental Authority Status is the perfect complement to these national reforms.
“Training our own dentists here in our city means we can build a sustainable NHS dental workforce that understands and serves our community’s needs”.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, Professor Graham Galbraith CBE, said:
“Achieving Dental Authority Status is a landmark moment for the University and the communities we serve.
“Portsmouth and the wider South-East region desperately need more NHS dentists, and we are ready to train the next generation of dental professionals right here in the heart of one of the country’s most underserved areas.”
The University is now awaiting the government’s decision on how many additional dentistry students will be funded across the UK. Once this is confirmed, the Office for Students (OfS) will allocate places to dental schools through a competitive process.
If successful in securing an allocation, Portsmouth will be able to welcome its first dental students as early as September this year. Not only could this mean the first dental school for the region, but also one of the first to open in the UK in 20 years.
The University’s Dental Academy opened in 2005 and was upgraded in 2023 with state-of-the-art facilities, featuring haptic virtual reality simulation units, modern phantom head simulation equipment, intra-oral scanners, CBCT X-ray equipment and CAD/CAM milling technology.
It currently trains dental nurses, dental hygienists, and dental therapists and is well placed to develop into a dental school.
Staff and students regularly take part in outreach activities, including offering free dental health services to the public and delivering the Brush Up programme in schools in Portsmouth, to help improve children’s oral health.
The city MP has written to the Vice Chancellor to congratulate the team at the University of Portsmouth for making this announcement possible.
