GDPUK - Richard Emms wows LDC conference

LDC Conference chairman, Richard Emms received a standing ovation after his speech to the pre-Conference dinner. He called for consistency from Primary Care Trusts and honesty from the Department of Health. He called on the chief dental officer for England, Barry Cockcroft to trust the profession. ‘If our patients trust us to do the right thing why can’t the department, I think we’ve earned it’, he said

More images from the event, click here.

For the speech in full click ‘Read More’.

There is a mixture of emotions as I stand here, firstly pride... I’m proud to be on my home patch, very proud of the fact that you have elected me chair of this important body, and proud to be the third member of North Yorkshire Local Dental Committee to address you in this role, and I’d like to crave your indulgence to take this opportunity to thank two of my predecessors as conference chairs Stuart Robson and John Renshaw for the support and encouragement they have given me over the years since I joined the LDC as a fresh faced young pup almost twenty years ago.

As I look down and see John and Stuart’s name on this chain of office, it’s quite a humbling experience to read the other illustrious names of those that have gone before and to consider the contribution they have made to the profession, and the leadership that they have given.

The overwhelming emotion this evening however, is one of nervousness as one realises the fact that the audience at conference is traditionally, shall we say opinionated, and not one that will readily stand any bullshitting!

In recent years this seems to have been coupled with a predeliction for the ancient sport of chairbaiting, a situation that leads me to the feeling so quaintly described by Sir Alex Ferguson as teams approach the business end of the football season as, “squeaky bum time”.

And yet, and yet, I do feel a little more secure in having home advantage, as it were, and safe in the knowledge that I have played this venue previously, though it was a slightly different gig.

I appeared on the stage behind me here a few years ago in the Ripon Amateur Operatic Society’s 2002 production of Sound of Music so if things do go all a bit pear shaped this evening and I experience a Robert Green moment, I can always fall back on an impromptu Karaoke evening of such sing- along favourites as “How do you solve a problem like a Warburton contract” and that classic made popular by the PCTs “16 going on 17 pounds a UDA”

When you look around this magnificent auditorium you wouldn’t guess that when I was treading the boards up there as the Nazi butler of Captain Von Trapp, the building was close to being condemned, (unlike the performance I hasten to add). After 100 years the place was facing wrack and ruin, it was no longer fit for purpose. The Grand Circle behind you was unsafe, the roof leaked, and the dressing rooms, which are below us, were a hard hat area. A situation that was OK for the men playing the German soldiers, but it was hell for the nuns! I think we were the last company to perform here before it was closed for repair and refurbishment. After much thought and planning and several millions of pounds of investment, it was reopened last year and I’m sure you’ll agree it’s pretty impressive.

Around the same time I was elected to serve on the newly constituted GDPC where we soon began discussing another edifice that many thought was coming to the end of its usefulness, namely the old NHS contract.

Aha I hear the more astute and perhaps more sober members of the audience murmuring, he’s using the successful rebuilding of this auditorium as a metaphor for the reconstruction of NHS dentistry.

Would that I could. For while we began to put the foundations down for the new system, the plans suddenly changed and we were left with a structure vastly different from the one that had been envisaged. I’m sure you will remember those early days, Darrin Robinson, who was then with the Dept, was giving roadshows likening the new PDS system to a football match where we could stand on the sidelines to watch the early enthusiasts playing the game until we felt it was so good that we too were ready to participate.

You can picture the scene, the sun was always shining, the skies were blue, the grass was green, jumpers for goalposts, marvellous. Sadly just as we were all getting ready to join in, the park-keeper came along and not only moved our jumpers but told us all that from now on we would be playing a very different game.