AUG
17
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That'll Do Nicely by @DentistGoneBadd

I Want Money (That’s What I Want)

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7206 Hits
JUN
24
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Interviews

Interviews

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3838 Hits
FEB
24
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What can Challenge do?

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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Twitter @ChallengeDoH

Challenge on Facebook 

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FEB
24
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Challenge Principles for Contract Reform 2014-5

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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Twitter @ChallengeDoH

Challenge on Facebook 

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4860 Hits
FEB
23
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Challenge re-emerges

Challenge re-emerges

Chief Dental Officer for England issues a ‘Call to Action’ to the dental profession to help find workable solutions to the contractual problems that have beset the NHS general dental service since the introduction of the last set of contractual changes in 2006.

You’re a bit late getting to the party, Barry, but now you are here you will be pleased to know that your old adversaries CHALLENGE have been resurrected and are looking forward to joining a robust debate alongside you.

Barry, you will remember, but for those who are too young to recall, CHALLENGE was a political pressure group set up in the wake of the 2006 contract debacle. They argued long and strong for major changes early in the life of the new contracts. They even made a significant appearance in front of a Parliamentary Health Select Committee back in 2008. The three founder members were Eddie Crouch, John Renshaw and Ian Gordon. These are well known names with a long track record of standing up for GDPs in the one-sided battle with the Department of Health. The same three professional leaders are still the face of CHALLENGE.

The call for action from the CDO provides us dentists with quite an intriguing headline, especially coming from one of the most obdurate supporters of the status quo. Barry Cockcroft comes to the vexatious arguments over the way the NHS GDS and its various contractual formats work for patients and for dentists after telling anyone who would listen - for years on end - that the service is in great shape and patients are deliriously happy with the way they are treated.

Well, if Barry wants to hear from the profession, CHALLENGE is willing to take up the cudgels once again to promote and articulate the message we hear coming from all the GDPs we listen to on a regular basis. In the near future we will be running our own listening exercise to gather up data on how you see the contract and how you feel you have fared in the eight years since it began. We also need to know your concerns about the pilots being run at the moment and the possible shape of a new service that may emerge.

If we as a profession are to make any real impact other than making a lot of noise and blowing out a lot of hot air, we need your input to validate what we are saying. When that chance comes along please take the few moments it will require to put down, for our benefit and for the benefit of all your colleagues, exactly how you feel about the situation you find yourself in.

If Barry wants action, CHALLENGE says let’s give it to him!!

 

John Renshaw

CHALLENGE

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Twitter @ChallengeDoH

Challenge on Facebook 

 

 

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5961 Hits
JUL
01
1

Start a Revolution - in writing, if you please ...

 

b2ap3_thumbnail_Dragon.jpg

 

Come the revolution, my father used to say, some group of ne’er do wells would be the first to feel the pointy end of his sword.  I am left wondering if this advice is as pertinent as ever. 

 

In a week that the CQC almost imploded we now have three examples of groups for whom professional respect runs low.  Low – pah! If only our respect was THAT high! It’s more the unfairness of it all: we do our job and they simply  don’t do theirs. 

 

In dentistry, all we are asked is to do the job. Whether it be the check up, the filling, the root canal or the moistening of nervous brows – we just get on and do it – in arguably the most efficient health care delivery model around – namely the small practice. 

 

IT'S NOT DIFFICULT  we all think - actually - since there are so many incompetents around, maybe we should start by recognising how good we are doing a very demanding job. Back to revolutionary thoughts ... 

 

Firstly there is the dreadful CQC.  Moving aside the argument of whether they achieve anything toward patient safety, this last week has seen both previous and current senior management trying to bury the Morcambe Bay truth about incompetence, incompetently. They were saved only by the Metropolitan Police ringing the Stephen Lawrence bell. 

 

Next up the gallows are those at hospital level who invented Triage Referrals – all we want is for Mrs Grumbles and her nasty wisdom tooth to be seen to get the bloody thing out safely.  Now the forms have to be the latest version, and every box ticked in a remake of that 1970’s film noire  The Ultimate Quanker Revenge. Only one “tick” need be “a cross” by mistake and voilà! You have helped the hospital meet their waiting targets.  How magnanimous of you all … 

 

Finally and worryingly Madame la G awaits NHS England.  The stories of what is happening with Local Area Teams and the slow moving nature of this organisation give little confidence. When you consider what has happened to LDC Levies, allied to the fact that the new contract will likely be finalised by this already seemingly incompetent body - don’t even mention the seniority payment scandal [also known as THEFT, Minister] - we all have good reason for “CONFIDENCE Zero” – an organisation free from all useful contents! Dentistry risks, once again, being cut out of the healthcare planning loop. 

 

The NHS Changes on 1st April it appears  served simply to shut all the PCT offices, reopen some new ones [at your expense] while many of the old guard simply ported their redundancy payment & employment to the new organisation, around the corner in its new offices with its new water machine and new coffee facility. A change of biscuit was no doubt also essential. These doors were revolving so fast that Superman would have struggled to keep up. 

 

The only consistent cause factor has to be the politicians.  We need to rise up ladies and gentlemen. Our MP’s need to be attacked eruditely and daily by a vociferous professional demand

 

Enough is enough and this has to stop. 

 

The summer is a great time because that’s when they go away. But we must believe that in this revolution, the pen IS mightier than the sword. 

 

It is YOUR politicians who have created these organisations and undue authority to act with ALL power and NO responsibility. Their purpose is solely to deflect responsibility from Westminster. 

 

It has to stop. I don’t know about you lot but for me, the time for professional revolution is fast  approaching.  Where's my pen?

 

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Recent comment in this post
Paul Isaacs

Wishful thinking

Sad but true, the sword is mightier than the pen.
Thursday, 18 July 2013 23:23
19092 Hits

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