NHS Dentistry and Oral Health update from Sara Hurley

Below you'll find the latest update from Sara Hurley, Chief Dental Officer England:

Hello!

As you will have seen on the news, the NHS has planned extensively to deliver the largest vaccination programme in our history, and it began on Tuesday. It’s important to say that while we are moving fast, this will be a marathon, not a sprint. I will keep you updated on timelines and progress and what this means for dental teams and more information is in this update.

I'm delighted to announce that Professor Rebecca Harris, Professor of Dental Public Health at Liverpool University has been appointed as our new Deputy Chief Dental Officer. Rebecca will join myself, Jason Wong and the team at the end of January, when our long serving and incredibly talented friend Eric Rooney will retire. Although he's not escaping just yet, I'm sure you will all join me in thanking Eric for his dedication to the profession.

As you may know, the minister has also confirmed to parliament the Government's decision that from Monday 14th December dental charges in England will be increased. The new charges are detailed below.

Yesterday Healthwatch England published their quarterly report with a focus on dentistry. We are reading this report carefully as we continue to restore dental services and do our best by patients.

I've also included updates from the General Dental Council on CPD cycles and the impact of theend of the EU Exit transition period on registration arrangements. The NHS and Health Education England have also launched an important new programme to support dental teamsdeliver sensory health services to children with a learning disability or autism and I encourage you to register.

Today's "By Word of Mouth" shout outgoes to Christian, one of ourdental nurses at Barts Health NHS Trust. Christian was redeployed earlier this year and shares with us his perspective. I am always on the look out to promote the achievements of our profession, so please do email me at [email protected] with any suggestions.

Mouth cancer action month came to an end in November, but its message is relevant every month. Myself and Deputy Chief Dental Officers Eric Rooney and Jason Wong each completed our 10k just in time bef ore 1st December. I know how many of you promoted mouth cancer action over the last month, and I am looking at ways to promote the signs to the public and support the profession on this important issue. If you have any ideas, concerns or points please do drop me a line at the email above.

Jason has also taken to NHS England's twitter and can be spotted on NHS England's Instagram with his lovely tribute to our profession - "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole dental family for delivering excellent patient care in extremely difficult circumstances. We're immensely proud of the work and effort of the whole dental family".

The full release of the latest NHS bulletin with more information can be found here.