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.
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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.”
Restaurants, cafés and pubs will be named and shamed unless they make food portions smaller or less sweet, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has said. They must play a part in tackling Britain’s obesity problem. But the BDA’s Mick Armstrong dismissed it as ‘tough talk on sugar’, which was no substitute for concerted action on ‘taxation, marketing, product reformulation and public education’.
Food and drink manufacturer Nestlé has taken steps to withdraw its ‘The Smile Factory’ advertising campaign following an appeal from leading oral health organisation the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT). President of the BSDHT, Michaela ONeill, believes this swift and decisive action should be a catalyst for other sweet manufacturers in reviewing their own advertising campaigns.
The British Dental Association (BDA) has won concessions from NHS England after failings by subcontractor Capita left many practitioners unable to attach performers to contracts. NHS England have agreed to extend the two month window for claims relating to new performers to the middle of 2017. Officials have also pledged to bring down the current backlog of applications.
A new process of dealing with concerns has been introduced by the General Dental Council (GDC) to encourage resolution between the dental professional and the patient. Each year, the GDC receives hundreds of concerns that could be resolved locally without it becoming a fitness to practise case if there was an agreement in place. The new process is known as GDC NHS concerns handling.
Read more: GDC starts new way to deal with patient complaints