As LDC Director for Ealing I met with Louise Taylor, Public Health Principal for Ealing Council, earlier this month to discuss oral health initiatives being run in the borough.
The LDC is committed to making “NHS dentistry a valued and integral part of the local health economy, creating an environment in which dentists are proud to work.1” Part of this involved meeting with key local stakeholders to understand how their plans affect the oral health and wellbeing of the public. By understanding what the local authority, which has responsibility for public health including children’s dental public health, is funding through prevention programmes and other strategies, such as smoking cessation and obesity we hope to “embed dental services and oral health into local health and wellbeing plans, ensuring that our role is understood and valued, improving the working lives of dentists to deliver the care their patients need.2“
We spoke about several initiatives being led by Ealing Council, including:
- Supervised toothbrushing in schools in primary and reception: There are currently 3,000 children in the programme.
- Tooth brushing packs. These are being distributed by health visitors, at children’s centres and at foster care organisations. The staff are trained by Adele the oral health promoter from CLCH.
- A project aimed at schools focussed on healthy eating and making them water only.
- In contrast, in high schools the focus for older children is not oral health per se but more on vaping and smoking cessation and advice.
- Oral Health Bus – they have a trailer with two rooms. Foundation Dentists see children and apply fluoride. The bus is parked outside the chosen school for ease of access. So far six sites have been visited. Children who need treatment are sign posted to the training practices.
In addition to these great initiatives we discussed whether practices struggling to meet UDA targets could be involved in the Oral Health Bus. While there was no scope for specific join up, it was agreed that practices could talk to parents outside the bus while the children were being seen.
The Council has responsibility for children’s oral health, but no budget or way of directly influencing NHS primary care spend. They do, however, have a voice at many meetings with the Integrated Care Board and can make it clear that dentists do want more joined up and integrated ways of working. This could be through Integrated Care Teams or through children’s hubs, as discussed by Dr Genevieve Small at our last open meeting.
The LDC is the voice of the dental profession at the local level. Without strong, credible and proactive engagement at the local level the voice of the profession at the national level is weakened. By working with partners to improve their understanding of the importance of dental services we will safeguard investment into dental services and improve systems to help dentists deliver the best possible care for their patients. Local engagement will put into practice national direction and show the dental profession as leaders. It is only by working locally that we can effectively and sustainable break down barriers to coworking and integration with the rest of the health and social care services so that dentistry is considered as integral to the NHS as other services.
So while the journey may be slow, and improvements take time we must start to build and nurture these relationships at the local level to make sure that when the time comes, we are able to move together to safeguard the future of NHS dental care in Ealing.
