Former CDO's Project is Hiring
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- Published: Monday, 30 October 2023 09:41
- Written by Peter Ingle
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There has been no progress reported on finding a permanent replacement for the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) for England.
The former CDO’s Ipswich project however, is now recruiting. Sara Hurley left NHS England in June to spend more time with her directorships, including the University of Suffolk Community Interest Company (UoS CIC) dental scheme. It is one of four directorships that she currently holds with her occupation being variously described as dentist, board director and chief dental officer. The Suffolk enterprise promises to show a new way of providing NHS dental care and training. It says that it will be seeing its first patients by winter 2023, working up to 60000 appointments a year. £12.5 million had been committed to the scheme by July 2023 including a controversial £1.5 million from the former Health Education England.
As well as appearing on Linkedin, the job details can now also be seen on the university website - Working for Us | University of Suffolk (uos.ac.uk) .
According to the website: Our mission is clear, we are here to deliver ‘ordinary dental care delivered with extraordinary care.’
Jobs include; Senior Dental Nurse with a starting salary of £28,500, Dental Officer, starting at £47,500, Senior Dental Officers from £74,000 and a Clinical Lead with a “competitive salary.” Receptionists, Therapists and Dental Nurses are also being sought. It is not clear how many posts in total are to be filled.
Interested candidates will need to hurry. At the time of writing, applications for some of the jobs, shown as being posted 7 days ago, close in 5 days time. Interviews will follow soon after, those for the Clinical Lead being on November 11th.
According to the UoS website, in a section, ‘Careers at the Dental CIC’: “We are a new and innovative Dental Social Enterprise and unique partnership with the University of Suffolk and Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board that truly wants to make a difference to people through the delivery of accessible NHS dental care. The University of Suffolk Dental CIC represents a step change in dental care in Suffolk and North East Essex and we are looking for passionate dedicated people to join us.”
At a time when sustainability is becoming a major preoccupation for the NHS, an ICB covering an area roughly bounded by Clacton, Colchester, Mildenhall and Aldeburgh, is concentrating a substantial amount of its funding in Ipswich. This may result in serious local variations and add to inequalities. The CIC has been presented as a substitute for NHS general dental care that had traditionally been provided in practices across the ICB. One can only wonder what the £12.5 million might have done, if used to boost UDA rates for existing contracts, and improve funding for the CDS.
Commenting on aspects of the scheme’s funding earlier in the year, British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch, said: "These are very serious allegations, that demand a full and thorough investigation. At a bare minimum, this profession needs to know that normal processes were followed, and no exceptions made. This service faces a crisis like no other in its history. When millions are struggling to access care, dentists and patients need assurances that every penny has been spent appropriately."
A list of Sara Hurley’s company appointments can be found here.
As reported in GDPUK a few months later, following a brief tendering process, the procurement exercise culminated in the acceptance of a single proposal for the service.
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