The South East London LDC held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 19 November at the Holiday Inn in Bexley.
The meeting opened with a summary of our activities in 2024. We have held various meetings with local stakeholders throughout the year in an effort to raise the profile of dental services. The relationships we have built with these stakeholders, in local Councils and with borough level Integrated Care Board leaders will stand in good stead for the coming year.
We have helped bring dentistry in to local plans, particularly in Lambeth and Lewisham where there is great enthusiasm to see dentists included in local plans. Significant changes and development of plans have been impeded by internal restructures for the ICB and also by the General Election and change of government.
Things seem to have settled down somewhat and the ICB appears to be operating in a less centralised way than other areas. This means that our engagement at the local level is even more important as the local voice becomes stronger in articulating its expectations for NHS dentistry.
As a member of the LDC Confederation the South East London LDC was instrumental in shaping the London Election Manifesto which was launched with cross party support, the General Election Manifesto and responding to consultations on everything from eating disorders to the wholesale reform of the NHS.
The LDC restarted monthly newsletters in April this year which have seen a good response, and is the easiest way to keep up to date with what we are doing on your behalf.
For next year we intend to focus on improving the data that we have access to and share with stakeholders, much of this will be available on the website. We will also be providing improved information about dental referrals to ensure that colleagues have access to up to date referral information. The LDC has also been invited to join the SEL ICB Primary Care Liaison Group and we will be using this forum to argue for improvements at the local level.
As discussed at the AGM the LDC is always on the look out for members to help support local engagement. The LDC needs people to lead on:
- One Lambeth Workforce Meetings – Lambeth, meets quarterly for 1 hour online
- Healthwatch to develop the public’s understanding of NHS dentistry, troubleshoot problems as they arise and ensure local healthwatch has a good information about NHS dentistry – each borough
- Training Hub to ensure their offer is available and relevant to dentists and our teams – SEL wide
Participation is remunerated at Guild Rate for every 3.5 hours.
As well as an update on our activities the AGM was joined by four speakers:
Chetan Morjaria – who spoke on Endodontics Diagnosis
Gajen Ravendreen – who spoke on Periodontics
James Wilson – who spoke on Paedodontics
Tarik Shembesh – who spoke on Oral Surgery
