News Galashiels Peri-dent closure condemned by union leaders
Borders dental company to close Scottish production
Union leaders have slammed the decision to close a dental floss factory in the Borders, saying they are treating staff like “second class citizens”. Peri-dent, one of Europe’s
leading manufacturers of dental floss, announced at the beginning of June that they were moving production to the Far East to secure the long- term future of the business. A statement from the
company, which employs 132 people at its Tweedbank factory near Galashiels, read: “The Galashiels production site has for some time been loss making. However, in recent months this situation has declined further and the future outlook suggests that this situ- ation will not change. “It would be with regret that Peri-dent closes its production
in Galashiels. However, Peri- dent believes this action is necessary to ensure that Peri- dent remains competitive in the global market place.” Tony Trench, regional
industrial organiser at the Unite union, told The Border Telegraph: “The workers are very demoralised. They feel
He added: “If they go ahead,
it will have an enormous impact, not just in Galash- iels but the surrounding area and on businesses which are already struggling to survive.” Local SNP MSP Christine
Grahame, who has taken the matter to First Minister Alex Salmond, said: “I think we have
“It would be with regret that Peri-dent closes its
production in Galashiels” Peri-dent
like they are being treated like second-class citizens. “In the past, we have always
been able to sit down and work it out somehow but this time the difficulty is they don’t seem to give a damn for the staff.”
‘Enthusiastic’ Gail is top of her class!
AWARDS
Dental nurse student Gail MacLeod has picked up an award from NHS Education for Scotland (NES) after finishing top of her class. Gail, who works at the Inverness Dental Centre, was named as the top NES (north region) SVQ candidate for the 2009 intake. She was presented with a quaich, flowers and a piece of jewel- lery by Hazel Carroll of the event’s sponsors Dental Directory.
Students were nomi- nated by their assessors in the Highlands, Orkney and
6 Scottish Dental magazine
Western Isles regions, with Gail being put forward by Amanda Allan, DCP tutor/ assessor at the Centre for Health Science in Inverness. In her nomination, Amanda said: “Gail is an enthusiastic, highly motivated student whose friendly character shone through.
“She worked to a consist- ently high standard in all areas of the qualification. Indeed, she had the top mark in Scotland for her final written exam paper.” The presentation was held at the Centre for Health Science and the nominees were presented with their
Dental nurse Gail MacLeod with Amanda Allan
awards by Dr Kenneth Scoular, Director of Post- graduate Education for NES north region.
Lead DCP tutor Teresa Ross closed the event by congratulating all the nomi- nees on the exceptionally high standard of portfolios submitted.
She said: “You are all winners.”
yet another example of the problems which arise when we have a company which is not rooted locally. Our priority is to find work for the people who seem likely to be made redundant.”
£200k fund for research projects
RESEARCH FUNDING
Up to £200,000 worth of funding has been made available for potential primary care research projects by the 2011 Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust Fund. This year’s competi-
tion is inviting applica- tions for projects that explore one of two ques- tions: 1) Does dentists’ fear have an adverse effect on clinical decision making? 2) Which dental liners under amalgam restorations have greater patient benefit? The questions were
selected after a review of 12 topics suggested by the users of the Primary Care Dentistry Research Forum (
www.dentist-
ryresearch.org), an online community that aims to help GDPs shape the research agenda. The successful
projects are expected to begin in January 2012 and should be no more than three years in duration. Bids are restricted to UK-based candidates only and will be judged on their originality, relevance to quality enhancement in primary dental care and the involvement of dental practitioners in the research. The deadline for
applications is 19 September and the successful projects will be announced by the trustees of the fund at the end of November.
® To find out more, visit
www.bda.org
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