§ 43. Mr. Jannerasked the Minister of Health who provided the funds for the new Sheffield dental hospital; what additional number of places for dental students were made available by this hospital; and how many of those places have been occupied.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThe cost was met mainly from Exchequer funds, with a contribution from the Sheffield Voluntary Hospitals Million Pound Appeal Fund. Some 25 additional places annually for dental students were made available by this hospital, and all of these in recent years have been occupied.
§ Mr. JannerIs the Minister aware that this is a very small contribution towards the 800 who are considered to be essential to meet existing requirements? Will he speed up the other proposals for the purpose of training dental students to become dentists?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithYes, Sir. I made a statement in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford (Lord Balniel) on 16th November, in which I referred to several new dental projects at various stages of planning, including University College and King's College Hospitals, the London Hospital and at Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithThese are the projects which are designed to enable us to implement the McNair recommendation, which is 800 a year practising, which means a total output of 900.