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PCTs urged to play ‘copycat’ to make NHS dentistry a world leader
24th Jul 2009
The future of NHS dentistry is in the hands of PCTs prepared to share the secret of their commissioning success.
That was the shared view of Professor Jimmy Steele and chief dental officer (CDO) Barry Cockcroft as they addressed a packed auditorium of dental leaders at The Future of Dentistry, the second of the Westminster Health Forum keynote seminars.
The forum, held in London on 22 July, served as a post-mortem on the Steele-led independent review, published in June and recommending significant changes to the way NHS dentistry is organised.
The review – commissioned last year following widespread criticism of the new contract by the House of Commons Health Select Committee – advised the government that, this time, they must pilot reforms properly in order to succeed.
At the July forum, Professor Steele maintained that change would have to move slowly and be ‘evolutionary' in order to be effective, but suggested that the sharing of information among those PCTS already successful in commissioning quality dental health care services could improve the process.
He urged PCTs with successful dental commissioning to share information with others, saying: ‘What it comes down to is the ability of those who do get the model to work well, to share that and make sure there is a transfer of information.'
CDO Barry Cockcroft was in agreement. Referring to the review report, he said that ‘this will not, cannot and must not be quick. Making this change must be done in an evolutionary way'.
He accepted that the speed in which changes were made was one of the problems with the 2006 contract and that PCTs will now need more national support in a direct way as there was ‘too much variation between them in their approach to commissioning dentistry services'.
He also added that this needed to be high-quality local commissioning, and, looking ahead, he, too, is keen to see communication between PCTs.
His message was do it, evaluate it, plagiarise it to develop a national protocol.
Citing Bradford, Tower Hamlets and Salford PCTs as leading lights in commissioning, Dr Cockcroft said: ‘One things that's nice is that both Bradford and Tower Hamlets acknowledge that there's some plagiarism in their programme towards Salford, and Salford is so pleased to be plagiarised.
‘Plagiarism is the highest form of compliment and also the quickest way to do your work. It's the best way to make progress.'
Professor Steele began his address with what he called a ‘bold statement‘, suggesting ‘NHS dentistry could lead the world in providing an oral health service'.
He said: ‘This time, the changes have to be piloted over a long period of time as 60 years of habit needs to change, so the profession should “edge” towards it.'
He dug deep into the annals of history and put the blame for the UK's poor dental health in the past 60 years firmly at the door of that ‘high energy cheap import', sugar. He talked of an NHS dental profession brought up on ‘this diet of high caries and low expectation. And, of course, that world is changing and changing quite fast.'
In his address that followed, CDO Barry Cockcroft reiterated the NHS promise that ‘anyone who wants to should be able to access an NHS dentist by April 2011' and announced that the latest data regarding access figures will be published on 20 August.
A lively questions-and-answers session followed for which the duo were joined by Jimmy Steele's review team – Eric Rooney, a consultant in dental public health for four PCTs in Cumbria and Lancashire, Janet Clarke, clinical director of the salaried dental service in Birmingham and deputy director of the provider services in Heart of Birmingham teaching PCT, and Tom Wilson, director of contracting and performance with NHS Tameside and Glossop.
Topics debated included:
• how the government propose to offer IT support to NHS dentists
• how the three-year warranty for dental treatment will work
• the clarification of plans for specialists
• the crossover between the Steele report and Mike Warburton's dental access programme (DAP)
Lord Colwyn, member of the Science and Technology Select Committee, chaired the forum.
Rounding it up, he thanked the two speakers for a ‘stimulating and interesting' address and noted how all questions in the Q&A session ‘hit the nail right on the head'.
Closing the forum, he commented: ‘The review is a natural progression of change following on from the Health Select Committee review.
‘All parties are looking forward to constructively making the change to the delivery of NHS dentistry in England. Meaningful piloting and engagement with the profession and patient groups will be the key to developing new arrangements.'
Author
Julie Bissett
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