Chairman's Update January 2023

January 5 th 2023 Lincolnshire LDC Update Number 70

Firstly, may I wish you and everyone in your dental team a happy and healthy New Year.

2022 brought many challenges to practices and the year ahead promises the same. On April 1st health care will be delegated to Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and we get the impression there is uncertainty in the profession on how ICSs will affect individual practices and dental teams. The LDC and LDN have an important role to play in communication and with this in mind, the next LDC Meeting on Tuesday 17 th January at 7pm will be an open meeting via Teams. An invite is enclosed at the end of the update and should be distributed to all members of your team, whether your practice is mainly NHS, mixed or private. Everyone, whether directly or indirectly, will be affected by the forthcoming changes.

At this meeting, Regional Chief Dentist Adam Morby, Deputy CDO Jason Wong and myself will explain how the ICS will operate and the implication for practices.

Lincolnshire Dental Strategy Working Group

Most of you will be aware of the recent work undertaken by this group, culminating in a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday 30 th November. Allan Reid, the Consultant in Public Health leading this work, has now completed a draft report and will summarise the findings of the working group at the LDC meeting on 17 th January. Again, this affects all members of the dental team whether you are in NHS or private practice

Doctors and Dentist Review Body contract uplifts

It is frustrating that, despite a pay uplift announcement in July for general dental practice, as we start the new year, we are yet to see this translated into an increase in NHS contract values in England.

The DDRB recommended an uplift in pay of 4.5%, which was accepted in full by the Westminster government. However, an element for costs has to be determined to give an overall increase in contract values. This determination has taken the government far too long to conclude.

The belief is that the uplift will be scheduled by the Business Services Authority in January and paid in February, backdated 10 months to April 2022. This will be confirmed along with the final uplift figure, hopefully in the coming month.

nhs.net accounts

As communication becomes increasingly important and the ICS develops, we strongly recommend that all dentists and key members of your teams all have nhs.net accounts so that information can be transmitted securely. These accounts are rolled out to all dental practitioners delivering NHS & Private Dental Services in England. We believe there is a limit of 10 accounts per practice. To apply follow the link below

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/register-your-nhsmail-account

One You Lincolnshire

At the last meeting LDC meeting we had an excellent presentation from Allison Jackson.

Allison leads the One You Lincolnshire Team. This

organisation is based at Lincolnshire County Council and is responsible for smoking cessation, alcohol mis-use, weight loss and improving physical activity.

As we move to an integrated health care system, the dental profession has a duty of care to signpost patients who may need help.

One You Lincolnshire would be more than happy to attend clinical meetings and have

discussions about localised referral pathways. Their team would be able to visit surgeries

and meet with the wider team. 

They have lots of resources and could deliver locally as well. 

All pathways are self-referral, but they also accept referrals from clinical teams using this

link (option 2) https://www.oneyoulincolnshire.org.uk/health-care-professionals/health-

care-professionals

Oral Cancer Update

In Early April, the LDC will be holding an evening face to face core CPD Event at the Lincoln Hotel to update everyone on Oral Cancer. The speakers will be Laith AlQamachi and Hiba Aga, both of whom are Consultant Maxillo-Facial Consultants at QMC in Nottingham

I am aware that some of your patients may have been treated by both clinicians in Nottingham. It promises to be an excellent and informative evening and will be open to all members of the dental team, both NHS and Private. The LDC will sponsor the buffet which will precede the presentation to allow all those attending a chance to re-connect with colleagues.

When the date is confirmed, we will let you know.

And Finally ……………

Here is the link for the meeting on Tuesday 17th January 2023

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 376 433 032 856

Passcode: P2bR2w

Download Teams | Join on the web