STEVENSON WELCOMES HIGHER BANFF & BUCHAN DENTIST REGISTRATION NUMBERS

Banff & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed the news that the number of dental registrations in Banff & Buchan has increased since March 2007. The number of people who are now registered with an NHS dentist in the Banff & Buchan Scottish Parliament constituency has risen from 36, 938 in March 2007 to 41, 734 in June this year.

This increase means that 55.5% of Banff & Buchan residents are now registered, up 6.4% from the 49.1% that were registered before the election.

Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:

“It is extremely pleasing that more and more people in Banff & Buchan now have access to an NHS dentist. The ability to access an NHS dentist is something that the SNP strongly believes should be available to as many people as possible, and everyone that is working to deliver this goal should be commended for their efforts.

“The best way to increase the number of people who are registered with an NHS dentist is to increase the number of dentists in Scotland, and I believe that the fact that the number of NHS dentists in Scotland has risen by 4.1% is key to understanding how these improvements have been achieved.

“Although as a constituency we are still slightly behind the Scottish average, we are making clear progress in the right direction and I am confident that as the new £21 million dental school in Aberdeen trains more dentists, we will see further improvements in access in Banff & Buchan.

“There is still further progress to make, but I am confident that the SNP government will continue to do everything in its power to improve the condition of NHS dentistry in Banff & Buchan”.