A team of dental nurses and dentists gave up time during the Christmas festivities to provide free dental treatment to the homeless. From 23-29 December, the group provided treatment around London inside four mobile surgery units lent by various community dental services, using sterilisation equipment provided by Henry Schein.
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The Competition and Markets Authority has served an enforcement order on Henry Schein in relation to their completed acquisition of certain assets and business information of Plandent Limited, while it investigates this. Until a decision is made both companies must operate as separate businesses.
Read more: Henry Schein acquisition of Plandent blocked for now
Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb has called on the Conservatives and Labour to match his commitment to invest an extra £8bn a year in the NHS by 2020. He has written to Jeremy Hunt and Andy Burnham calling on them to commit to meet the financial needs of the NHS as set out by Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England in his Five Year Forward View.
Read more: Lib Dems call on all parties to match NHS spending
The General Dental Council (GDC), has launched a recruitment campaign to appoint a dental professional Council member. This is to replace Jason Stokes, who resigned last year, but his replacement need to be a dentist, but could be a DCP. Council members are required to attend on 36 days per year and remuneration is £15,000 per annum. Application can now be made online through the GDC website.
In a letter from Evlynne Gilvarry Chief Executive of the General Dental Council (GDC) to Peter Ward Chief Executive of the British Dental Association (BDA) she acknowledges that ‘there was a procedural error in the ARF level consultation’. But she says they ‘will use the additional funds to forge (sic) further improvements in our performance.’ She ends by looking forward ‘to working with you and your colleagues constructively’ in 2015.
A Bedford dentist has been erased by the General Dental Council (GDC) following a public hearing into allegations of misconduct. The allegations against Abiodun Olayinka Bamgbelu included sending numerous emails and letters to three members of staff at the GDC that were abusive/emotionally abusive, and/or offensive and/or threatening and using similar behaviour towards staff at the Oxford Deanery.
Mick Armstrong has been re-elected as Chairman of the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee (PEC). He said: “This last year has seen our profession take a stand. We’ve united to defend the pay and conditions of the next generation of dentists. We proved that our inefficient and ineffective regulator acted unlawfully. In 2015 I know we must do more.”
Which? has launched a new campaign: Clean Up Dental Costs. They have found that people could be paying more than they need to, because some dentists aren’t upfront about prices or clear about what treatment patients are entitled to on the NHS. Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: “We are calling on the NHS and the regulators to clean up dental costs and make sure the existing rules are put into practice consistently.”
Read more: Which? campaign: Action needed to clean up dental costs
The Department of Health (DH) has announced details of two prototypes to be tested over the next two years; if successful they will be rolled out in 2017/18. Two types will be tested, all of which contain payments for quality, capitation and activity, but with different proportions of each element.