Continued vigilance

Writing in a blog for the BDA’s website, General Dental Practice committee chair John Milne highlights concerns arising from BDA focus groups.  These include anxieties about the feasibility of implementation in small practices, the impact on the working patterns of associate dentists and the feasibility of introducing new arrangements in a single phase. A comprehensive campaign to explain any changes that are made to patients will be vital, John stresses.

But he also argues that the emergence of these concerns must not be allowed to frighten the profession into withdrawing support for them, emphasising the significant amount of positive commentary about the pilots, including the improved morale of dental professionals participating in them and an ability to adopt a more preventive approach to care. Tellingly, John argues, some participants said that the pilots allowed them to return to the kind of dentistry they were taught at dental school.

The blog also sees John argue that the profession’s continuing frustrations with the current contractual system must not allow it to be lulled into accepting what is being piloted unquestioningly, insisting that more time and continuing engagement are vital to getting the reforms right.