What can CHALLENGE do?

• CHALLENGE will argue and lobby powerfully in support of the dental profession’s position as the key providers of oral health care in the UK. The process of building a new dental service cannot be done in secret.
• CHALLENGE will organise forums and events in which key players can be given the chance to air their views and break through the logjam created by the BDA and the Department of Health both of whom have excellent reasons to exclude others from the debate.
• Carry out field research among the profession to establish their opinions, hopes and fears. This is not a feature of any of the work being carried out at the moment. Suppressing the voice of the dental profession is unforgiveable when it is the profession as a whole that will be required to carry out whatever emerges from the discussions, using their businesses and the human resource they control. That voice must be heard loud and clear.
• CHALLENGE will listen to the voices of those whose work is strongly linked to the dental profession and industry but not part of the established professional hierarchy. The dental industry supports the dental profession in a symbiotic relationship – each needs the other. The importance of that element of the industry needs to be recognised.

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Key principles underpinning the CHALLENGE approach to a new GDS contract in 2014/5

Any new system must concentrate its efforts on delivering –

·         Improved oral health for the population as a whole

·         An oral care system that patients understand and can trust

·         A profession that can take pride in its work

These are the simple but important features of a successful contractual arrangement between the dental profession and the Government.

In addition, CHALLENGE would say that the following issues are just as important -

·         A system where the roles of the state and of individual service providers  are crystal clear

·         A system in which the NHS and non-NHS system work in combination, not in opposition

·         a system in which the profession is encouraged and empowered to act professionally

Whatever emerges from the discussions between the profession and the NHS must be able to demonstrate that it has matched these issues with due sensitivity to the needs of both sides. Both sides need to recognise the need for fiscal control and integrity and both sides need to understand that if high clinical standards are required then the funding has to be there to support those standards.

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