July 2007 Newsletter

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July 2007

SCOTTISH DENTAL NEWS JULY 2007

CONTENTS

NHS Commitment - Part-time dentists
Deprived Area Allowance
Scottish Dental Access Initiative
Emergency Dental Services
IT
NHS Board - Dental Project Update

Chief dental officer

Margie Taylor was appointed Scotland's Chief Dental Officer (CDO) with effect from 1 May 2007.

Prior to moving to the post of CDO Margie was latterly working as the Consultant in Dental Public Health within NHS Lanarkshire where she had been since 1994.

Before joining NHS Lanarkshire, she worked in Fife and Lothian as Chief Administrative Dental Officer and in clinical dentistry respectively.

She has also held positions as board member at NHS Health Scotland between 1998 and 2006 and has chaired the dental committee at NHS National Education for Scotland for the past few years.

Margie is delighted to have been appointed as Chief Dental Officer. She looks forward to working with Ministers and NHS staff to improve the dental health of everyone in Scotland building on the good work that has already been done in reducing inequalities in dental health and improving access to NHS dental services.

NHS COMMITMENT - PART-TIME DENTISTS

The means of measuring NHS commitment for part-time dentists is based on the total time spent in the practice on dentistry, whether private or NHS. Full details can be found in Memorandum to NHS 2007 PCA(D)3 which was issued to NHS Boards on 16 May 2007 for distribution.

DEPRIVED AREAS ALLOWANCE

On 30 March 2007 memorandum to circular NHS: 2007 PCA(D)2 was issued to NHS Boards for distribution. This advised that from 1 April 2007 this allowance would be based on patient post codes. Therefore, you are reminded to include the patient post code or CHI number on ALL payment claims.

SCOTTISH DENTAL ACCESS INITIATIVE

Information about the revised Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) has now been issued to NHS Boards on 5 July. NHS Boards have been asked to take whatever action they consider appropriate to publicise the scheme locally.

Responsibility for consideration and approval of grants under the SDAI will be devolved to NHS Boards.

The revised SDAI will be revised with effect from 1 April 2007 to provide for the purchase and relocation of existing NHS dental practices in order to maintain access to general dental services and to include specialist orthodontic practices. Grants towards the relocation of an existing NHS dental practice, even although it is not an expansion, can be provided where the practice is required to relocate to better quality and more suitable premises in order to meet Disability Discrimination and decontamination requirements.

The financial assistance available under the scheme has also been revised. For example, under the revised scheme a grant of up to £100,000 can be provided for the establishment of a new NHS dental practice or the purchase or relocation of an existing NHS dental practice, which must include a dedicated decontamination room(s). Where it is intended that the practice has more than 1 surgery then the grant can be increased by £25,000 per additional surgery over and above the first. The conditions of grant, e.g. registering 1,500 NHS patients, relate to each grant-aided surgery. For example if a grant of £150,000 is provided towards the establishment of a new 3 surgery NHS dental practice then a minimum of 10 three and a half hour sessions of general dental services per week would require to be provided per grant-aided surgery and 1,500 NHS patients would require to be registered per grant-aided surgery.

Information about the revised scheme can be obtained from your NHS Board.

Emergency Dental Services

The Scottish Emergency Dental Service (SEDS) project is overseen by a national (SEDS) project board with much of the development work undertaken by a Strategic Development Manager, Martin Hopkins.

The initial focus of the work has been to create additional capacity within NHS 24 to make sure that all out of hours dental calls can be managed by NHS 24 call handlers and that there are sufficient numbers of trained dental triage nurses available to cover the expected peaks of activity across Scotland. Over 2.5 million people are already covered by the SEDS project (although some areas are still in the process of moving to a full overnight nurse triage service) and it is intended that NHS 24 will be able to offer full capacity for the remaining half of the population by the end of 2007. This should enable all NHS Board areas to join the national service in a phased roll-out in the first part of 2008 in order to meet the Dental Action Plan targets.

The trained dental triage nurses will be located initially in the NHS 24 call centres in Glasgow Clydebank and Lanarkshire and in a new local centre in Glenrothes which recently became operational. By the end of 2007 all these dental nurses will be fully trained in using dental triage algorithms, developed by a working group here in Scotland, to support their dental decision making and they will be able to manage calls from all parts of Scotland.

Although there is ongoing work within NHS 24 to meet the year end deadlines, the main focus of the SEDS project will soon be shifting towards NHS Boards to make sure that appropriate services are in place to offer treatment (within the target timescales) to those patients who have been triaged as an 'emergency' or an 'urgent' case.

The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme will shortly be publishing guidance on 'emergency dental care' including Out of Hours Emergency Dental Standards. Collectively, these are designed to support primary care dental practitioners and NHS Boards in ensuring that there are appropriate local services available at all times to meet the needs of patients with dental problems and that patients know how to access these services. It is anticipated that NHS Quality Improvement Scotland will undertake an assessment of progress against these Standards in all NHS Board areas once the full SEDS roll-out is complete.

Finally, Martin Hopkins is due to move on from the SEDS project from July 2007 onwards and we would wish to record our gratitude to Martin for the immense amount of work that he has put in since 2005 and to wish him well for the next stage in his career.

IT

Practice Infrastructure Roll Out - this is progressing well with about 98% practice surveys complete. The cabling phase is also underway with over 224 practices (28%) cabled to date.

N3 - connections commenced in June and connections are being ordered from BT at a rate of 20 - 25 a week.

The Code of Connection policy issued to practices require to be signed and returned before the N3 connection can be ordered for each practice. To date about 80% have been returned so if you haven't returned your signed copy the project team ask that you please return it to them as soon as possible.

PCs are now being built and deployed to practices.

NHS Mail (NHS email based service) set up process has been agreed with the IT facilitators and work has commenced to enter dental practices on the NHS Mail national directory. This work is now complete in NHS Forth Valley and NHS Fife and they can now register dental practice staff.

The GDS IM&T project continue to issue communications to GDS practices and NHS Boards and update their website regularly throughout the rollout, with NHS Boards able to access a password protected spreadsheet showing the status of each practice in their area: http://www.gds.scot.nhs.uk/pir_progress.html

Clinical System Procurement - The procurement of a clinical system will soon get underway with a project being commissioned to manage the procurement process.

Community & Salaried Dental System - All 14 NHS Boards are now live with at least one Community or Salaried Dental Clinic with the Kodak R4 system.

If you have any enquiries regarding the GDS IM&T project please contact:

Julie.falconer@nhs.net Telephone number 0131 275 6260 or

Programme.Office@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk Telephone number 0141 282 2000

NHS BOARD DENTAL PROJECT UPDATES

NHS Ayrshire & Arran

(Primary and Community Care Premises Modernisation Programme)

Kilbirnie Health Centre Extension will incorporate two dental surgeries, decontamination room and associated accommodation. Work has started on this 2 surgery development and due to some delays with contractor issues the estimated completion date is expected to be the end of October 2007.

North West Kilmarnock Teach & Treat Dental Centre, is a 10 Surgery centre incorporating 4 Outreach chairs, Access Service for East Ayrshire, Salaried Dentists and Community Dental Services, including 2 special needs surgeries (one of which has a specialist wheelchair platform to enable patients to be treated in their own chair, if unable to be lifted by hoist into the dental chair). The Centre is currently being fitted out with cabinetry and dental chairs and has an estimated completion date of August 2007, with the first undergraduates arriving in October 2007.

Health Board Capital

Ayrshire Central Hospital, Irvine is a 2 surgery centre created from an existing administration building within the grounds of Ayrshire Central Hospital, Irvine, incorporating a special needs surgery for the Community Dental Service and an Access Centre for North Ayrshire co-located with new accommodation for an expanding Oral Health Promotion Team for North Ayrshire.

Phase 1 Dental surgeries and local decontamination unit with associated

accommodation, completion date, 29th June 2007

Phase 2 North Ayrshire Oral Health Promotion Team accommodation, estimated completion date, August 2007

Lamlash, Isle of Arran reconfiguration and replacement of equipment within the Hospital bungalow to incorporate a local decontamination unit and a new surgery to provide 'fit for purpose' premises to accommodate visiting Orthodontic Consultants, and the services of a Hygienist and Senior Dental Officer to reduce the number of visits patients need to make to the mainland for treatment, estimated completion March 2008.

The Health Board are currently in the process of developing a Primary Care Dental Premises Plan that will look at the needs of Ayrshire and Arran for the next 5-10 years, this will incorporate General Dental Practitioners, Community Dental Services and Salaried Services.

This plan will address Disability Discrimination issues, decontamination, access to services (demand & need) and dentist to population ratios.

Dental Premises also included in the existing Primary Care Premises Plan are;

Girvan Community Hospital (South Ayrshire)

Ardrossan (North Ayrshire)

Patna (East Ayrshire)

NHS Dumfries & Galloway

Dumfries Dental Centre now includes 18 surgeries and is on schedule for completion of the building at the end of 2007. NHS provision, including the facilities for care of patients with disabilities, and inhalation sedation for management of dental anxiety, will begin in early 2008.

The recruitment programme for dental tutors and salaried dentists, therapists and hygienists is about to commence. Two new two year Dental Foundation programme places will be created in Dumfries, offering newly qualified dentists a fully integrated programme in orthodontics, OMFS, special care dentistry and salaried GDS.

The Dental Undergraduate Outreach Programme from Glasgow Dental Hospital and School will be delivered in a suite of six dedicated surgeries. Four Dental Therapist training places will be created, also in dedicated surgeries, in partnership with Crichton Campus and University of Highlands and Islands. Both these programmes will commence in August 2008.

NHS Fife

Dental Triage: The Dental triage service is now operational at the Lomond Business Centre.

Dunfermline Locality: Development of a purpose built facility on the Linburn Road site is on schedule. The contractor will be appointed in July and construction will commence in August and take 5/6 months.

Cupar Locality: Planning submissions are on schedule. Additional landscaping has been requested by the planning authorities.

Cowdenbeath Locality: Planning submissions are on schedule. The site of the unit has been moved as the previous site was over a mineshaft. A new site investigation will be carried out on the new area.

Glenrothes Locality :Leslie

Planning submissions are on schedule. A move from the existing Leslie Clinic to temporary accommodation and demolition is scheduled for June 2007.

Dovecot, Glenrothes

Discussions are ongoing for the potential relocation of an existing Dental Practice to the Dovecot site to provide 6 dental surgeries.

NHS Lanarkshire

The Coatbridge Dental and Primary Care Centre will accommodate a dental education and outreach centre for dental students, nurses and therapists. The education centre will be the first of its kind in the area to provide training in a community setting and as part of a working dental practice. In addition the centre will provide facilities for postgraduate training for general dental practitioners, and a service for patients with specialist dental needs.

The centre will be located in purpose-built accommodation in Main Street Coatbridge, on the site of a disused swimming pool and a NHS Lanarkshire building. The project is progressing as planned, following approval and a developer has since been appointed with a view to completing the design, planning and tendering process in January 2008 with a planned completion date of the facility by July 2009.

NHS Shetland

NHS Shetland are planning to extend and refurbish one of their health centres on the Island of Whalasay to accommodate dental facilities within the health centre premises. This project will commence late summer 2007.

NHS Tayside

The Outline Business Case for the proposed 20-surgery unit Perth and Kinross Integrated Dental Treatment and Training Centre has been approved by the Strategic Policy and Resource Committee of NHS Tayside and was presented to the Health Board for approval on 28th June. The progress through the relevant committees and groups is proceeding as anticipated and there has been no need to revise the timeline. The final stage for the Outline Business Case is presentation to the Scottish Executive CIG and, provided approval is obtained from NHS Tayside in June, this will occur on the 10th July 2007.

The Kings Cross Dental Treatment Centre Project to create a 10 surgery dental suite at Kings Cross Hospital in Dundee is currently on schedule and is targeted for practical completion on 6th August 2007. Commissioning and infection control checks should be complete by mid-August with the suite fully operational by end-August 2007. The internal and external structures of the individual surgeries and their associated consulting rooms have been constructed. Electrical and water services are in place and the equipment schedule for smaller item of equipment has been signed off and items are in the process of being ordered. The larger pieces of dental equipment including chairs, lights and intra-oral x-ray units have been tendered and ordered.