Peter was appointed consultant in oral and maxillofacial surgery to the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust in 1998 with a special interest in trauma and orthognathics. He has worked as the medical director for the Trust and is the responsible officer for overseeing the appraisal and revalidation of medical staff.
He was closely involved in the development of the new dental school at the University of Central Lancashire and also with the new medical school at Lancaster University. He co-edited the Handbook of Immediate Care and has contributed chapters about dento-facial trauma in a number of textbooks. As hospital dentists are employed on the same terms of service as doctors, Peter led the BDA’s response to the junior doctors’ contract dispute and was determined to secure a contract that is both safe for patients and practitioners alike.
In recognition of his major contribution to dentistry, the BDA and in reducing artificial barriers between primary and secondary care, Peter was appointed as the union’s president whose term expires next month.
Thanking CCHDS members for electing him to the office of chair, Peter said, “The profession is currently facing significant challenges, not least the new trainee contract which needs to be implemented fairly, and ditto any changes to the consultant contract.
“It’s frustrating too that the long-recognised need to create a no-blame culture in hospitals, akin to the airline industry, has been undermined by the questionable handling by all those involved in the Bawa Garba case.
“How long more do we have to wait for a culture that promotes learning from mistakes rather than penalising individuals for systemic failures that place patients at risk? Let us hope that this sad case will be a tipping point and we will start to see a paradigm shift in attitudes and behaviours of regulators.
“It’s also unclear how hospital dental departments will be affected when the latest model for commissioning services – Integrated Care Systems (formerly the Sustainability and Transformation Plans) – comes into play.
“Health Education England’s proposals to radically change the way dentists are trained have not only set alarm bells ringing in the dental community, they also fail to consider the knock-on effects to hospital dental services and the patients we serve.
“Our committee will also be working hard to address the anomalous routes for entry to the GDC’s specialist register for clinicians who have not undertaken formal training. The regulator’s current process is not as transparent as the GMC’s for the medical and surgical specialties.”
The vice-chair Pete Brotherton was also re-elected, having been elected himself in 2015.