Plans to turn the first floor of Shanklin Conservative Club into a ‘much sought-after’ NHS dental practice have been given the green light.
James Kingham’s plans to convert the ‘underutilised’ space above the private members’ bar on Palmerston Road, Shanklin, into a 6-surgery facility have been granted permission.
The dental practice will cater to around 80 patients a day.
The first floor has previously been run as a function suite ancillary to the venue, known as The Regency Suite, used for private hire events including weddings and parties.
A council decision report said the change of use would allow an ongoing use of a ‘relatively vacant level’, benefitting the community and economy within Shanklin town centre.
“The availability of NHS dental surgeries on the Isle of Wight has been in steady decline.
“The proposed change of use would bring 6 available surgery rooms into the Shanklin town centre boundary area and would make efficient use of an existing spacious first floor, which is currently significantly underutilised.
“The proposed dentist facility would accommodate approximately 80 patients per day representing a substantial enhancement in local healthcare provision.”
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Mr Kingham’s agent, Nova Architectural, previously told the council the proposal will provide a ‘much sought-after’ facility.
Its support statement said:
“Availability of NHS dentistry on the Isle of Wight has been in a steady decline, with many reports on news sites and community pages that there is a shortage of dentists on the Island, with many reporting that they are unable to gain appointments within their local community.
“The proposal will provide a much sought-after and needed facility which will have many overarching benefits not only to the wider community of Shanklin, but also to the local economy.”
NHS Dentist? No such thing really as such dentists are private practitioners that also provide NHS treatment, which isn’t in favour by dentists due to NHS payments being low. It will be interesting to see how easy it becomes to get NHS appointments compared to private.
Both dental practices and dentists are currently being incentivised by the Government, to increase NHS dentistry availability. There have certainly been more available in Ryde as a result.
That is very true.