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Your NHS dentistry and oral health update
Thursday 29 July 2021 (Issue 21)
An update from Sara Hurley
Dear colleague,
I am delighted to welcome Amanda Pritchard as the new NHS Chief Executive.
Amanda brings a wealth of experience to the role. As the NHS' Chief Operating Officer, Amanda has overseen NHS operational performance and delivery, as well as implementation of service transformation and patient care improvements set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
I am looking forward to working with Amanda as we focus on the restoration of services. As Amanda says in her first remarks in her new role "the skill, determination and ‘can do’ spirit that NHS staff have shown in the face of the greatest challenge in the health service’s history means we face the future with confidence.”
Amanda is our first woman Chief Executive of the NHS. The glass ceilings in dentistry were broken by the likes of Dame Margaret Seward, our first woman Chief Dental Officer who passed away last week, a true pioneer of oral health. The tributes from so many of you have been truly touching. It is also an opportunity to remember Lilian Lindsay, who qualified as the UK's first woman dentist in 1895. Please do read the BDA's fascinating article about Lilian who, like Dame Margaret, was a " woman who didn't take no for an answer", as we mark what would have been Lilian's 150th birthday last week.
You will have seen that the General Dental Council has appointed Lord Toby Harris as their new Chair and Angie Heilmann as council member. I welcome Toby and Angie to their new roles and I look forward to working with them on the needs of patients and the profession.
Best wishes,
Sara
Sara Hurley
Chief Dental Officer England
Our new NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard
Amanda Pritchard has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of NHS England. As NHS chief executive, she will be responsible for an annual budget of more than £130 billion while ensuring that everyone in the country receives high quality care.
Amanda takes up the role after serving as the NHS’ Chief Operating Officer (COO) for two years.
Her appointment follows an open and competitive recruitment process by the Board of NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Pritchard will be the first woman in the health service’s history to hold the post, which she will take up on Sunday August 1.
Amanda Pritchard began her NHS career as a graduate management trainee in 1997 after studying at Oxford University and has held a variety of other NHS management positions.
Before joining NHS England and NHS Improvement in 2019 she served as Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London.
Amanda was also Deputy Chief Executive at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust.
She attended Durham Johnson Comprehensive School, in County Durham, before studying Modern History at St Anne’s College, Oxford.
New dentist service pages on the NHS website and keeping your NHS profile up to date
The NHS website has launched new service pages for dentists as part of a programme of work to improve the care and experience offered to patients. Last August, dentist profiles were refreshed to give them a clean, modern design in keeping with the rest of the NHS website. The new service pages sit within these profiles and provide information on NHS treatment costs and better reflect the range of NHS-funded dental services. Dentists that provide mandatory services will now have them included on their profile as standard. Practices that do not provide mandatory services will need to make sure that their ‘’Referral only” status is set. By doing so, these services will not appear on their profile.
Through the current profile editor, all dentists also have the option add 4 non-mandatory services. These are sedation services; home visits; orthodontics; and oral surgery. NHS website profile editors have received prior information about these changes via email from the NHS website team. If you have any questions about the new NHS dentist service pages, please contact the NHS website service desk.
Last week, alongside minister Jo Churchill we wrote to practices requesting they update their NHS website profiles as a matter of priority. To manage your profile(s) you must have editing rights. If you do not currently have editing rights for your dental practices, you can apply by contacting the NHS website service desk.
The service desk email is nhswebsite.servicedesk@nhs.net
Dental professional nominations for national honours
We are currently seeking nominations from across the oral health sector for recognition in the national honours system. Nominations can cover specific activities or a lifetime achievement. Status or seniority is not important – what is crucial is the impact that the person has had on people’s health, be that locally, nationally or internationally.
Go to Nominate someone for an honour or award for advice on developing your draft and for information on how the process works, along with a nomination form.
Nominations can be sent directly to the Honours team at mb-honours@dhsc.gov.uk or via the Office of the Chief Dental Officer (OCDO) at ENGLAND.CDOExecutive@nhs.net. If you are sending to OCDO, forms need to be received by Tuesday 24th August 2021.
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Previous NHS dentistry and oral health bulletins
Previous bulletins can be accessed by clicking on the links below:
NHS primary care bulletin
The NHS primary care bulletin provides resources on health policy and practice and we encourage you to sign up for this, too. It is aimed at teams across general practice, dentistry, community pharmacy and optometry.
All previous editions of the primary care bulletin can be read on the NHS England website.
A reminder of the latest advice and guidance
NHS updates to the profession
Key updates from the Chief Dental Officer and the NHS dentistry and oral health team are all online here.
Transition to Recovery: Dentistry's standard operating procedure
The latest version was published on Friday 16 July 2021. Changes to the previous SOP are in yellow. You can read the SOP online here.
COVID-19: infection prevention and control dental guidance
The guidance is an appendix to and should be read in conjunction with the national guidance on infection prevention and control for COVID-19 . You can read the general guidance and the specialist dental appendix online here.
Avoidance of doubt note: provision of phased treatments
This document is to support dental professionals, and to clarify where it might be appropriate to provide phased treatment spanning over several courses of treatment (CoT). You can read it online here.