Martin Woodrow has been appointed as Chief Executive of the British Dental Association on a permanent basis, having been Acting CEO since August 2018. BDA Chair Mick Armstrong said: "We are delighted to have a steady hand on the tiller at Wimpole Street. Martin joined us with a formidable track record built in trade unions and healthcare associations.”
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A record number of people in Scotland are registered with an NHS dentist, according to the latest figures. A total of 5.2 million people were signed up as at 30 September 2019. The figure represents 95.7% of the Scottish population, and is an increase of 2.3 percentage points on the previous year. Registration rates were similar for children and adults (94.3% and 96%).
Read more: Record number of Scots registered with NHS dentist
Former Health Secretary and Tory party leadership contender, Jeremy Hunt MP, has been elected to the chair of the Commons Health Select Committee. The BDA has sent him a message asking him to “reopen the inquiry into dentistry” which was instituted by his predecessor, Dr Sarah Wollaston, but ended with the general election.
Dental Protection has told the Government that it is now time to focus on getting UK dental regulation right. Raj Rattan, Dental Director, urged the new Government to move things forward quickly saying: “Few areas of regulation in the UK are more overdue reform than healthcare professional regulation.”
Read more: Dental Protection urges Government to sort out dental regulation
The BDA has passed on advice to primary care practitioners from the Chief Medical Officer on the virus from China. He says that the NHS is ’extremely well-prepared and used to managing infections’ and is ’working rapidly to identify any contacts the patients had, to prevent further spread.’ As of 31 January, there were two confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in England.
The survey for the quarter ending 31st October 2019 has seen a big leap – again – in the goodwill as a percentage of fee income in deals done. This is the fifth quarter in a row that deals have risen – from a low of 122% of gross fees in quarter ending October 2018, to 157% of gross fees in this latest quarter. Alan Suggett, who compiles the goodwill survey, said, “It is clear that in many parts of the country that the practices sales market is still buoyant.”
Read more: NASDAL Goodwill Survey Results – deals done continue to rise
The GDC has announced the arrival of Gordon Matheson CBE as their new Head of Scottish Affairs. He was leader of Glasgow City Council from 2010-15. Elected in 1999, he served as Bailie, Justice of the Peace, Executive Member for Education and City Treasurer. He has led the public affairs and policy functions in Scotland for two major national charities.
Lidl has said it will remove cartoon characters from its own-brand cereals to help parents buy healthy products. It hopes that the rebranded packaging, to be introduced in the spring, will alleviate the pressure of children’s "pester power". Health experts welcomed the move but called for government regulations on "junk food marketing".
Read more: Lidl to remove cartoon characters from own-brand cereals
There were over 14,000 people on the waiting list for an NHS dentist in Plymouth in October 2019, and the number is continuing to increase. The news comes after the BDA revealed back in November that more people in Devon and Cornwall are struggling to access NHS dentists than anywhere else in England. GDPC chair, David Cottam claimed that this was due to a ’perfect storm’ of underfunding, failed contracts and recruitment problems.
Read more: NHS dentist access problems hit the South West of England