Local dental networks will drive progress – CDO
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- Published: Thursday, 07 July 2016 07:54
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Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley was speaking at Westminster Health Forum seminar. She stressed that her priority was improving oral health as well as delivering dental care. The role of Local Dental Networks was developing to impact on the various decision makers who would achieve this objective.
The CDO emphasised that no one solution would fit all areas of the country. There were 14 autonomous NHS areas, responsible for commissioning and the delivery of NHS dental services, over 150 local authorities, responsible for public health, including oral health, together with Health Education England and numerous other bodies. The Office of the CDO could not direct what they did, but could have a strategy and policies which could deliver better oral health, ‘putting the mouth back in the body’, as she put it. She would be publishing an ‘Oral Health Forward View’ later in the year and Local dental Networks would play a key part in the way forward.
The Westminster Health Forum seminar on July 5 was chaired by dentist Lord Colwyn, who in his remarks stressed the uncertainty that had come with the Brexit decision.
The morning started with presentations on priorities for dental reform and improving service delivery from Peter Howitt, Department of Health, who said that this time they wanted to get reform right. Henrik Overgaard?Nielsen, Chair of the General Dental Practice Committee, who said that capitation was central to reform. The operation of the contract had to be properly monitored and item of service payments should replace UDAs.
This was followed by a series of short 5 minute talks on the contract prototypes, including : Eddie Crouch, Birmingham, Jacob Lant, Healthwatch England, Len D’Cruz, Woodford Dental Care, who expressed serious misgivings about the operation of prototype contracts in his practice and Eddie Coyle, Oasis Dental Care.
Next came two presentations on professional regulation from Janet Williamson from the CQC, who outlined the work they were doing to establish which regulator should do what to eliminate overlap. Matthew Hill, Director of Strategy at the GDC stressed the changes that would be proposed by them later in the year, but would be aimed at reducing the role of fitness to practise as the sole part of regulation.
After coffee workforce development and education were discussed by Elizabeth Jones Health Education England, who stressed the need to build a career in general dental practice, not just a job. She was followed by a talk on regional devolution by Stuart Allan who chairs the Greater Manchester Federation of Local Dental Committees
The topical issues of childrens’ oral health and prevention were covered by Stephen Fayle, Consultant at Leeds Dental Institute and Sandra White, Director of Dental Public Health, Public Health England, whose aim was that every child grows up free from dental decay.
The seminar ended with the talk from Sara Hurley, followed by questions from the floor and closing remarks from Lord Colwyn, and Sam Dolton, Producer of Westminster Health Forum
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