Every Integrated Care Board should work with their LDC and other dental stakeholders to develop a clear Vision and Mission for dentistry in their area.
A clear Vision and Mission will help to direct all work and discussions as each party would have a frame of reference to make decisions against.
Dentistry lacks clear direction at the local and national level, an agreed Vision and Mission at the ICB level would help bring focus to all meetings and the national debate.
There is a lack of clarity in local discussions about what the expectations for the dental sector are.
The lack of a clear purpose and plan for dentistry means that flexible commissioning is not used as there is no measure of what good looks like and no opportunity to hold commissioners to account beyond the number of UDAs delivered.
Meetings with stakeholders can often lack coherence and clear outcomes as there is no set objective that everyone is working towards.
Ministers have repeatedly failed to reform the NHS dental contract but a clear steer from the ICBs about how they want dentistry to help with their objectives of reducing health inequalities and improving health outcomes would provide a much needed framework for national policy makers to work within.
