Terry Babbs will be joining the GDC as a lay Council member. He will also chair the GDC’s Finance and Performance Committee. Terry is currently a member of the Investment Board of Oxfam's Enterprise Development Programme. He is also presently non-executive Chair of Partner Africa and a non-executive director of the Legal Services Board, where he is Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.
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Problems accessing NHS dentistry in Bradford provoked a fiery discussion at a health scrutiny meeting which was prompted by a new Healthwatch report which found that 43% of adults and 30% of children surveyed did not have an NHS dentist and that many had struggled to find one. Some had even resorted to ‘DIY dentistry’, including home tooth extraction, while many others had ended up at A&E, the meeting heard.
Read more: NHS access problems in Bradford prompt lively debate
Wright Health Group, the Dundee-based dental supplies business, has increased profits by 46 per cent in its latest year in spite of the challenges posed by cuts in government and consumer spending. The latest accounts for the company show Wright Health Group made £1.9m pre-tax profit in 2015, compared with £1.3m in the preceding year.
The British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) announced that the rights to BDIA Dental Showcase have been sold for an undisclosed sum to George Warman Publications, part of the Mark Allen Group. This company, who publish Dental Update, The Dentist and other magazines, will now be running the exhibition once this year’s event is over.
Sky News has reported that Bupa is making a takeover bid for Oasis, the dentistry chain, Bupa has reportedly held preliminary talks with Oasis Healthcare's management and shareholders about a deal, although the discussions are said to be at a very early stage. Estimates of Oasis' value suggest the company, owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint, could be worth in the region of £500m.
The latest quarterly figures (May-Jul 2016) from NASDAL show a substantial rise of over 11% on the previous quarter to goodwill of 138% of gross fees. Alan Suggett, commented, “Whilst it must be stressed that the EU referendum vote happened midway through the quarter, it does appear that the vote had at worse, no effect, or arguably a positive effect on the value of UK dental practices.”