Dentists’ Provident has investigated if dentists are as good at looking after themselves as they are their patients . An online survey earlier this year revealed that dentists aren’t taking enough breaks or drinking enough water during a working day. This could not only affect their ability to practise, but also have an impact on their health and wellbeing.
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GDC chair, Bill Moyes, has claimed that the Council’s recent decision not to include any location details about dental professionals on its online public register shows that it is an organisation which is able to listen to a range of views, and make a proportionate and reasoned decision, which ‘shows its maturity’.
Ministers in the previous team at the Department of Health had promised that oral health would be included in the Child Obesity strategy. However there was no mention of dentistry when it was released. The BDA, FDS, FGDP and BSPD have reacted vigourously to this omission. The strategy can be found at:
Desmond D’Mello has been removed from the dentists register for serious infection control breaches. His nurse, Ms Caroline Surgey, is now subject to conditional registration for a period of 12 months. Gavin Scott, chair of the PCC said: “Mr D’Mello’s behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with being a dental professional, and his behaviour is so damaging to public confidence in the dental profession.”
Theresa May overruled the health secretary on tough measures to tackle obesity and insisted that the economy must take priority. Restrictions on advertising and promotional deals on junk food have been removed from the plan, despite Public Health England’s insistence that such steps would be the most effective way to prevent children getting fat. Ministers have been accused of a “shocking abdication” of responsibility and were heavily criticised by doctors, dentists and health groups.
A new UK-wide Soft Drinks Industry Levy will apply to the production and importation of soft drinks containing added sugar. The government announced as part of Budget 2016 that they would introduce the new levy from April 2018. They have issued a consultation which sets out proposals for how the levy will be designed and implemented.
Junior doctors have threatened the “trade union dispute of the century”. In a message to members, Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis, a member of the BMA junior doctors committee detailed plans for repeated and crippling strikes, increasing pressure on NHS services as winter approaches. The BDA joined in the previous action and is keeping in touch with the BMA. Separately a CCG has abandoned plans to ration non-urgent treatments.
Read more: Junior doctors pledge to ratchet up strike action
The British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) has produced a post-Brexit manifesto, ‘Shaping the Future,’ which sets out the industry’s views on how government should positively influence the future for oral health, dentistry and the dental industry. BDIA’s Edmund Proffitt, comments: “There is a window of opportunity for the dental industry to share its positive vision for the future with key politicians, civil servants and decision makers.
The GMB union has instructed a law firm to take legal action on behalf of members driving for Uber on the grounds that the company is in breach of a legal duty to provide them with basic rights on pay, holidays, health and safety and on discipline and grievances. If successful this case could set a precedent for other self-employed workers such as dental associates.