The event builds on the success of previous Dental Leadership Network events, bringing together stakeholders.
There were presentations by Andrea Sutcliffe, chief executive and registrar of The Nursing and Midwifery Council, who spoke about their role, values and culture and what can be learned from another healthcare regulator. Ashley Byrne, head of communications and board member of the Dental Laboratories Association, addressed the challenges facing dental technology.
Panel discussions featured representatives from the College of General Dentistry, General Dental Council (GDC), NHS England and the British Dental Association (BDA), among others.
There were keynote addresses from Theresa Thorp, GDC executive director of regulation and Stefan Czerniawski, GDC executive director of strategy.
Theresa focussed on dental workforce challenges and provided key insights from the GDC’s work pattern data exercise.
Stefan spoke about provisional registration and what it might mean for the Dental Leadership Network.
The Dental Leadership Network plays a role in sharing information and building relationships to create a better understanding of everyone’s remit, priorities and shared challenges and encourage collaboration and ownership to address these shared challenges.
Stefan said, “It’s really valuable for leaders across the dental sector to invest time in discussing the shared issues that affect us all and, most importantly, patients.
“Collaboration and ownership only works if the whole of the dental world is engaged – and it was really heartening to see strong interest and support from the Dental Leadership Network to get involved in challenges including workforce, retention and provisional registration.”