April NHS dentistry and oral health update

Monthly update from Jason Wong, Chief Dental Officer for England:

This April sees the start of the roll-out of important reforms to the NHS dental contract in England. These significant changes are the result of wide consultation and genuine partnership with colleagues across the oral health profession, patients and their representative groups.

The reforms represent a new chapter for NHS dentistry and oral health, placing quality, sustainability and prevention at its centre. They are designed to better support practices and ultimately deliver the best outcomes for our patients. Details of what to expect and how to prepare can be found in this bulletin.

Join our Chief Dental Officer (CDO) webinar on Tuesday 14 April, where we'll be discussing the new Quality Improvement (QI) programme component of contract reform. The joining link is listed below.

In addition, we are pleased to see that the government is improving access to oral healthcare.  Advice from the Office of the Chief Dental Officer (OCDO) England has led to an expansion of the scope of the government's target to deliver 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments, to now include all dental appointments. This will help to ensure more patients can be seen quickly and get the care they need.

This bulletin also includes a debrief of the CDO programme at this year's British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) Dental Showcase. It proved to be a great opportunity to engage with a wide mix of colleagues over two action-packed days, and we hope those who attended enjoyed themselves as much as my team and I did.

Furthermore, we've also signposted to important resources relating to Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag (RADF) and what this means for clinicians, system suppliers and patients.

Finally, I shared a short video on the importance of World Oral Health Day, held on 20 March. It's messaging remains critical to colleagues, stakeholders and patients throughout the year.

Kind regards,

Jason Wong