Hygiene + Therapy Courses NO LONGER FREE / FUNDED

Hi there

I work in Edinburgh and our hospital teaches the BSc Oral health studies through Edinburgh university as far as I'm aware the dental nurse that have tried to get on it with their dental nursing, sedation and experience was unsuccessful the uni wanted the grades from higher/gcse so our nurses were slightly disappointed with this as you can imagine. The students get a typical uni bursury or I think in Scotland young 1st time students I think get it paid for them still?

Hi the eastman in london still offers the hygiene course, they are taking applications for 2014 already and its funded by the nhs i got an email from them the other day with a propectus. im a bit confused now

For a while universities have been converting from the Diploma to the Degree for most allied health professionals courses. The government is making cut backs all the time the same situation is happening with the HE Diploma in Adult Nursing and HE Diploma in Operating Dept Practice. The Diploma courses were funded by the SHA (Strategic Health Authority) and there are no tuition fees but the full degree (BSc) award requires the student to fund the course or apply for a student loan.

There are a few dental schools that still offer the diploma in Dental Hygiene / Dental Therapy e.g. Liverpool, Belfast, Salford etc

And Cardiff is the only place that offers the stand alone Dip Dental Hygiene.

The future is likely to be that the funded Diploma will be fully phased out all together and replaced with a self funding degree. This also means that you will have to apply via UCAS and will no longer be able to apply direct to the university. By 2013 the HE Diploma in Operating Department Practice will be completely replaced with a degree and the same will happen with Dental Hygiene / Therapy in the future at present the maximum tuition fee's a university will charge is £9,000 per academic year. However you will only pay this back at 6.0% per month when you start earning over aprox £21,000 per year after you have qualified for more details on student loans look at the student loan companies website.

yeah i thought you didnt have to pay! good luck with the course!! if you dont mind me asking what kind of questions did they ask you in the interview? thanks

I am starting a diploma in Dental Hygiene in September and my course is fully funded and with an NHS bursary.

hi just seen this, i went to an open day at salford uni and they did not mention anything about having to pay fees!!??!!

Hi all,

I've had worrying information come from 6 universities and from several other DCP's along with word of mouth that -

- the hygiene and therapy Diplomas and BSc's are no longer funded and tuition fees have to paid up to £9000 per annum like other courses.

- The universities no longer accept access course of any kind

Can anyone confirm this? or point me in the direction of information that confirms or denies this?


This is very worrying, it just seems more and more like the universities don't wnat dental nurses to do the course.