A WIDE-RANGING action plan to bring primary NHS dental care to an extra 150,000 people has been put together by a health authority.

If the plan is a success, it would see an extra 80 dentists recruited by the end of 2009.

Problems with the lack of NHS practices were highlighted earlier this year when more than 3,000 people queued to be registered at a newly-opened practice in Scarborough.

In May, a £2m scheme to treat 11,000 more patients in the town was unveiled and now the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority has put together an action plan aimed at modernising and improving access to NHS dentistry across the region.

It aims to make sure that everyone who wants access to NHS dentistry is able to do so promptly and within a reasonable travelling distance.

Its key objectives are to recruit more dentists nationally and internationally, to improve the working lives of dentists and to improve the career opportunities for dentists and support staff.

The plan suggests forging links with undergraduate dental schools to market the area, organising dental recruitment fairs and investigating financial incentives, such as undergraduate bursaries and lease cars.

Other ideas include improving access to childcare for dentists, training two professional mentors within each primary care trust and developing recruitment packs for each health trust area.

A spokesperson for the strategic health authority said: "Latest figures indicate that 810,000 people in North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire can access primary dental services.

"It is believed that 960,000 would wish to do so at any time. Therefore, a gap of 150,000 people exists. Our plan is to fill this gap within five years.

"This plan aims to support PCTs, improve access to NHS dentistry and builds upon the work by the ten primary care trusts within the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority area."

The plan will be discussed by North Yorkshire County Council's scrutiny of health committee at St Catherine's Hospice, in Scarborough, on September 13.

Steps are being taken to improve access to dental services in County Durham in the wake of the Government's announcement of £368m funding and reforms in July.

According to a spokeswoman for County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority, many dentists think the planned changes will mean they can spend more time with patients and be able to do more prevention work.

The spokeswoman said: "We are talking with the primary care trusts to ensure that we are in a position to implement the regulations when they come in."