View from the north end: a model for future dental schools?

The opening of the School of Dentistry at UCLan in 2007 was an initiative designed to deliver a BDS degree predominantly in a primary care setting through a number of regional Dental Education Centres. Originally established in conjunction with the University of Liverpool, the Dental School at UCLan became fully independent in 2011. The school has been successful and, following an inspection by the General Dental Council in 2014, was commended for many aspects of its provision. The Department of Health in England had commissioned two new UK dental schools in 2004–05, with these to focus on education for graduate entry students within the primary care sector.1

The School was established by the Cumbria and Lancashire Medical and Dental Education Consortium, comprising the Universities of Central Lancashire, Cumbria, Liverpool and Lancaster, in association with the Primary Care Trusts of Blackpool, Cumbria, East Lancashire and North Lancashire in response to a perceived shortage of NHS primary dental care in the North-West.