Kay Mason Billig, Conservative leader at County Hall, said Mr Streeting needed the dried fruit – considered a way to relieve constipation – to end the ‘blockage’ holding up a decision on the University of East Anglia dental school.
There remains doubt over when the under-construction school – seen as key to solving the county’s dental crisis – will be able to take on its first students.
There had been hopes the first students would be able to enrol in September next year, but the process to allow that has not started, so it now looks like it will be September 2007 before the first undergraduates can begin their training.
Ministers have previously expressed enthusiasm for the school, which backers believe help ease problems which have seen the area dubbed a “dental desert” because people cannot get NHS treatment.
But the government, struggling with extreme pressures on its finances, is yet to commit the necessary funding so the Office for Students can allocate dental courses for 2026/27.
Work to build the £3m centre in a new extension of the Edith Cavell Building at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital site is under way, with construction financed half by the UEA and half by Norfolk councils.
And, at a meeting of Norfolk County Council’s Conservative-controlled cabinet on Monday, Mrs Mason Billig urged Mr Streeting to stop dithering.
She said: “This is something that various local stakeholders have put serious money into to make sure that this dental school happens and it is under construction at the moment.
“Unfortunately, Wes Streeting must have a blockage somewhere, is all I can think, because he can’t seem to make a decision on this.
“We are going to advise a portion of prunes, perhaps, and see if we can unblock the blockage and get somewhere so we can get some training places for our dental school because we know there is a dental desert in the east of England.”
The UEA is growing increasingly frustrated about the slow progress – particularly given prospective dental students are keen to sign up.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said in September that plans for the allocation of funding for dental places would be set out “in due course”, but did not state when.
The hope is that by providing dental training locally, more students will be encouraged to settle in Norfolk and fill some of the gaps in the county’s provision.
