New Cockburn dental clinic opens

8/12/04
A new state-of-the-art dental clinic in Cockburn is expected to further reduce waitlists for southern suburbs residents.
Health Minister Jim McGinty opened the $1.8million facility today and said it was the latest in a series of dental clinics that had been established to enable dental patients to access treatment locally.
"This new clinic in Cockburn will be able to provide up to 6,000 treatments a year from eight dental surgeries, which will significantly help to reduce the waiting time for southern residents," Mr McGinty said.
"Since 2001, the State Government has built and upgraded dental facilities in high service demand areas and introduced a $3million strategy to cut waiting lists.
"These initiatives have proved successful as the waiting list has dropped dramatically from 24,000 at the beginning of this year to just under 15,000."
The Minister said the Government was able to put more money into dental care after delivering balanced Budgets four years in a row.
"We hope to further reduce the dental waiting list to 12,500 by June next year to ensure people have quicker access to dental care," he said.
Previously, patients in Cockburn had to travel to Fremantle or Rockingham for their dental treatment.
Clinic staff include two dentists, three dental assistants and one dental technician, which will increase to six dentists, nine assistants and two technicians next year.
Other public dental clinics that have been established include the Oral Health Centre in Nedlands and clinics in Morley, Warwick and Armadale, with work beginning on new clinics in Joondalup and Bunbury.
The Cockburn Dental Clinic is located at the corner of Rockingham Road and Coleville Crescent in Spearwood.
Minister's office: 9220 5000