CDO Spells Out Priorities in Keynote Address
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- Published: Wednesday, 05 April 2023 09:58
- Written by Peter Ingle
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The recent BDIA Dental Showcase exhibition and conference at the ExCeL London is one of the big events in the UK dental calendar. The pandemic may have affected how the profession views such gatherings, and there have been comments that this meeting at the ExCeL centre felt smaller and had less trade representation than before.
Despite this the Office of the Chief Dental Officer (OCDO) had a comparatively large stand, and many key personnel in attendance. They included Sara Hurley, Chief Dental Officer England and NHS England, who had a busy schedule, including keynote addresses on both days. They were notable both for what was said, and what was left unsaid.
The CDO began by referring to the really interesting feedback that had been received so far, but did not elaborate. She went on to emphasise the role that a “new generation” would have on oral health and then reflected upon her seven years in office. The post pandemic recovery was not complete, and she spoke of new support for the pressures that dental practices were facing.
She was pleased to see that patients were now using the CDO Oral Health Bulletins to help them better understand what was available. The recently released NASDAL figures showing increases in dentist’s earnings were quoted with a reminder that both principals and associates remain in the top 10% band.
The CDO spoke of her personal ambition to “put the mouth back into the body” and believed that her tenure had encouraged a better understanding of the relationship between Oral Health and general health. This work the CDO asserted, provided “a golden opportunity” for the profession. In language that some dental teams might not initially recognise she spoke of “you, me and the commissioners” as a “trilogy of endeavour.” There was much talk of respect, with it being a key requirement for change.
Moving into an era of ICB’s, dental care would be commissioned by “different people in a different way”. Reform would need to be “Iterative and agile”. There would be no “big bang” as far as the GDS contract was concerned. After all, she reminded her audience, that approach had not worked well last time.
Skill mix was mentioned with the claim that therapists could now initiate NHS treatment. The process to allow dentists to show FD equivalence and join the performers list was being speeded up, and this should help with workforce issues.
The CDO was particularly proud of her DCby1 campaign and the Starting Well programme, which were “delivering a dividend”. There were now two dentists on the Central Young Persons Policy team, and this was providing a dental input to policy.
Returning to the issue of respect, the CDO moved to a slide headed ‘Times Up’ referring to the campaign originally started by women in Hollywood, allied to the ‘Me Too’ campaign but specifically focused on promoting, fairness, safety, and equity, in the workplace.
This led the CDO to speak of a culture of misinformation, and that much of the criticism she had received was sexist and misogynistic. System reform she declared, was as much about culture as content. “Are you an ally or a bystander?” she asked.
Ali Sparke Director for Dentistry, Community Pharmacy and Optometry, NHS England who immediately followed on from the CDO, inherited a modest audience, which was unfortunate as he came close to addressing some the issues that many showcase attendees face on a daily basis. He was aware that teams felt under rewarded, in particular when it came to high needs patients. He spoke of “the pressure of targets” and that urgent care, access, workforce recruitment and retention, as well as inflation and the tight labour market, were areas of concern.
In response to these issues, he felt that the July 2022 reforms addressed some of them and said that further work was under way. He spoke of an ambition to have remuneration better reflect patient needs. He noted that Band 2 and 3 treatment numbers were recovering more rapidly than those of Band 1. He interpreted this as reflecting a welcome prioritisation of higher needs cases. He also stated that there were 539 more dentists delivering NHS care.
Ali also emphasised the reallocation of time that following NICE recall guidance would provide. He recognised that some patients who were used to more frequent visits, were not happy with the changes. To support the dental teams dealing with this “resistance,” material would be provided to help them explain the change to patients.
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