More Changes at the Office of the Chief Dental Officer
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- Published: Monday, 14 August 2023 10:03
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Dental workforce problems do not just apply to general practice. At the Office of the Chief Dental Officer (OCDO) the will she, won’t she, departure of CDO Sara Hurley was swiftly followed by the loss of Professor Rebecca Harris, one of the two part time deputies.
While the former CDO gave her reasons for departure, Professor Harris has not elaborated on her abrupt exit. This left former deputy and now interim CDO Jason Wong, on his own. Despite Sara Hurley letting her superiors know of her plans last year, there is an apparent lack of urgency in filling the vacancies. A recent NHS Dentistry and Oral Health Update from Jason Wong suggests that new recruits are unlikely to challenge the established thinking at OCDO.
Jason Wong’s update was somewhat heavier on content than those of his predecessor. With a word count more than double that of those sent earlier this year, it covered safety and quality initiatives, which have been a consistent interest of his, changes to the OCDO team, and also gave some clues about the kind of environment he would like for UK dentistry.
On the personnel front, the interim CDO thanked Professor Harris for her work as the clinical lead for reform and announced that Professor Nick Barker will be taking over this role "while the process for a substantive post is undertaken.” Professor Barker is the Chair of the Essex Local Dental Network, which has been a part of the generally successful cooperation between the NHS and LDC in that area. His background includes being a founding partner of the Oracle group of practices in Essex, teaching at the University of Essex, as well as sitting on the BDA General Dental Practice Committee.
In addition to this he regularly undertakes dento-legal expert witness work. He was one of the experts instructed by the GDC in the Williams “top-up” case, where the dentist’s erasure was subsequently overturned.
Professor Barker is likely to find himself even busier now, with the interim CDO stating that on NHS reform: “I am aware that there is much work to do and we must increase the pace of change of reform.”
There are four other arrivals at OCDO who will be joining for, “at least three months” as senior clinical policy advisors. A former deputy CDO, Janet Clarke MBE, returns after serving in a special advisor role to the health and social care committee. Charlotte Klass, Consultant in Dental Public Health also joins the OCDO Executive team. She is registered with the GDC as a specialist in dental public health and is treasurer of the the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry
Continuing the drive to link general and oral health, Shabir Shivji and Deborah Manger will be joining the team to work with a range of programmes integrating oral health into general health. These include, but are not limited to, cardiovascular disease, maternity services and cancer pathways.
Beyond reform, Jason Wong makes it clear that OCDO will continue with work on culture. He refers to; “making the shift to a just and learning culture and moving further away from a culture of fear.” He added, “We all want to have proportionate and tough regulation as well as a fair clinical negligence system but it is a whole system cultural shift that is required.”
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