Bright Light Leadership, a new organisation set up to support dentists and senior members of their teams to develop new leadership skills and provide a foundation for dynamically improving their business, have announced the launch of a new series of events. Speakers are Dr Roger Matthews and Stephen Gates, formerly of Denplan.
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Britain could face a "post-antibiotic apocalypse," without swift action to cut needless use of such drugs, England’s chief medical officer has said. Later this month Dame Sally Davies will launch a national campaign urging patients not to demand antibiotics. The BDA has responded by calling on government to step in and help front line NHS staff deliver an effective response.
Read more: Britain could face "post-antibiotic apocalypse" warns CMO
Ministers have had to respond to two recent news stories, the BDA’s press release that half of dentists were considering leaving the NHS and the news that fines were being levied on patients who had wrongly claimed exemption from charges. The replies were aimed to be reassuring it would appear.
HM Revenue & Customs is cracking down on tax avoidance schemes sold to agency staff, who themselves cost the NHS £3bn a year, according to a report in the Sunday Times. They have launched an investigation into tax avoidance schemes being sold to NHS agency doctors and nurses with claims they can take home up to 90% of their pay.
Hospitals have been ordered to take super-size chocolate bars and “grab bags” of sugary snacks off of the shelves in the latest step of the NHS plan to fight obesity, diabetes and tooth-decay. Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, said: “The NHS is now stepping up action to combat the ‘super-size’ snack culture.”
The BBC reports that more than 40,000 people a year in England are getting fines of £100 or £150 - from an automated system that dentists say is hitting the most vulnerable. The fines, which amount to about £4m per year, are being applied by a random screening process that checks on whether people going to the dentist are really eligible for free treatment.
The GDC has appointed four new clinical dental advisers and a senior dental adviser to join its fitness to practise team. They are Margaret Naylor, Richard Cox, Richard Lawson, Shamir Mehta and Christopher Roome. The new members will advise on the clinical aspects of a fitness to practise investigation using written reports and all of the new appointments are currently practising dentistry.
In answer to a Parliamnetary Question by Steve McCabe, junior health minister Steve Brine published a table showing that last year 4.4 million UDAs, with a value of £129 million were not delivered in 2,409 contracts. In answer to another question Mr Brine said 22.2 million adults and 6.8 million children were seen by a dentist last year.
It has been reported that snack companies are spend 27 times more pushing sugary and salty foods than the government does on promoting healthy eating. Additionally, the food watchdog has found that coconut water could be just as harmful as many sugary drinks. However a health minister has said they will publish an assessment of its programme for sugar reduction next year.