Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Feature
  • Published:

Rural recruitment issues: A Cumbrian perspective

BDJ In Practice volume 34, pages 12–13 (2021)Cite this article

Recruitment of dentists in rural areas has reached breaking point. It has always been difficult, and it has steadily got worse. A great destination for holidays but not for a permanent move, according to many young graduates who seem to want to stay in cities. The gender and cultural mix of graduates has changed markedly over the years and this has had an effect on rural recruitment. National recruitment for Dental Foundation Trainees (DFT's) can result in graduates being placed in areas they don't want to be in and national workforce planning seems not to have taken any of the above into account.

Being a 'boomer' with a natural affinity for the great outdoors, I needed to seek opinions from a more diverse community to understand the problem. To find out more, I stimulated a debate on social media. Whilst many were reticent to comment openly, I received over 500 direct messages, comments and emails. Several perceived barriers and some facilitators to people coming to work in the area were raised. Below are themes identified from the messages, illustrated by quotes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ghyllmount Dental Practice, 4 Hobson Court, Penrith 40 Business Park, CA11 9GQ, Penrith, UK

    John Lewis

Authors
  1. John Lewis
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Lewis.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lewis, J. Rural recruitment issues: A Cumbrian perspective . BDJ In Pract 34, 12–13 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-021-0767-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-021-0767-7

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links