For immediate release
Friday, 24 January 2025
Glenrothes MSP, Jenny Gilruth, has urged opposition parties to back the Scottish Government’s Draft Budget for 2025-26 to unlock record spending for the NHS which can be used to improve dental services locally.
A record investment of over £21 billion has been allocated for NHS services across the country by the Scottish Government.
NHS Fife will see funding increase from 2024/25 for the coming financial year from £829.2 million to £937.9 million.
The Scottish Government’s Budget for 2025-26 includes a 14.6% increase of funding from the last financial year to support dentistry reform and continued access to NHS services. This performance and reform package bundle will deliver additional measures to support the NHS dental workforce, both expanding the number of dental students in Scotland and training international dental care professionals already working in Scotland to articulate to full dentist status.
The Glenrothes MSP has been responding to increasing concerns locally about the availability of NHS dentists.
Ms Gilruth been liaising with NHS Fife, the Scottish Government, and the Chief Dental Officer to improve dental services across the constituency, especially since the start of 2024, when Nanodent announced their closure in Cadham.
After a positive meeting and discussions with the Minister for Public Health, Jenni Minto MSP, last year, the Glenrothes MSP was able to secure an extension to the Glenrothes area from the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI). The Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) aims to support NHS dental provision in designated geographic areas where access to General Dental Services is low.
Now, following the publication of the Scottish Government’s draft budget, Ms Gilruth is calling on opposition MSPs to back funding of over £21 billion for the NHS, which can be used to help tackle access to NHS dentists in Fife.
Commenting, Jenny Gilruth MSP said:
“Dental services across Mid Fife and Glenrothes need extra investment—as anyone who lives locally will know. Glenrothes, in particular, has been disproportionately impacted by recent closures, which is making securing a dentist extremely challenging for people.
“The challenges on dentist staffing in Fife are becoming increasingly more difficult—which has been exacerbated as a result of Brexit and changes to immigration rules by the UK Government.
“We need more dentists in Glenrothes and the surrounding areas. The way to do that is through greater investment. The Scottish Government’s draft budget will help to deliver record funding of £21 billion into our NHS, with a 14.6% uplift for dentistry services, including £937.9 million for NHS Fife, that can be used towards improving the situation locally.
“However, opposition parties will need to back the Scottish Government’s Budget vote in February if we are to get this investment into our communities across the country. Abstaining on extra investment for dentistry in Fife would be a deflection of duty for any political party – the people we represent need more investment and that is exactly what this budget will deliver.”
ENDS
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