Scottish Council report 13 December 2018
Dear Branch Members
Please see attached a copy of the BDA Scottish Council December 2018 meeting report.
Scottish Council met on Thursday 13 December 2018 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Dunblane Hydro.
A minute’s silence was held out of respect and remembrance for BDA member Dr Samuel Acheampong, BDA West of Scotland Branch.
1. Chief Dental Officer Retirement
Scottish Council noted that the Chief Dental Officer would retire on Friday 14 December 2018. The post had not yet been advertised.
2. Meeting with the Minister for Public Health, Sport & Wellbeing
Representatives from the BDA’s Scottish Council met with J FitzPatrick, Minister for Public Health, Sport & Wellbeing at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 21 November 2018. The main items discussed were: the Scottish Government’s Oral Health Improvement Plan (OHIP), including OHIP proposals around domiciliary care; water fluoridation; dentists’ pay and morale; extended waiting times for paediatric extractions under general anaesthetic across a number of NHS Boards; IT strategy; and the introduction of an HPV vaccination programme for boys.
3. Scottish Government Oral Health Improvement Plan
At a meeting between the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Scottish Dental Practice Committee (SDPC), BDA Scotland and Scottish Government on 6 December 2018, progress with the OHIP was discussed and the BDA sought clarity around priorities, timescales and BDA involvement. Scottish Government plans to implement the actions over several phases but has no definite timescales in place. The first meeting of the Scottish Government GDPs with enhanced Skills in Domiciliary Care Implementation Group was held on 13 December 2018. The Chair of SDPC attended the meeting.
4. Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body
The BDA is producing a UK-wide submission for the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) 2019/20 which will be submitted in January 2019. An oral evidence session will be held in London on 1 April 2019.
5. BDA Scotland Scottish Parliament Oral Cancer Event
BDA Scotland launched its Oral Cancer Action Plan on 13 November 2018 at its ‘Stand Up to Oral Cancer’ event at the Scottish Parliament. Around 50 people attended the event including Government Ministers and other MSPs, dentists, representatives from other professions, health organisations, Royal Colleges and cancer charities, and several oral cancer survivors.
Anas Sarwar MSP, former Shadow Health Spokesperson, Scottish Labour Party sponsored the event which linked in with Mouth Cancer Action Month in November and tabled a motion on oral cancer in the Scottish Parliament.
6. Paediatric Extractions under General Anaesthetic
BDA Scotland continues to be concerned about the long waiting times for paediatric extractions under general anaesthetic in some NHS Boards. J Freeman, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport had recently attended a full theatre list session for dental extractions under general anaesthetic to see at first hand the traumatic nature of this procedure.
7. HPV Vaccine for boys in Scotland
Scottish Government has announced it will implement a HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination programme for boys following a report from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. Although Scottish Government has confirmed that it aims to implement the programme as soon as possible, BDA Scotland is urging the Government to set out cleart imescales for implementation and include a catch-up programme for all boys of appropriate age.
8. General Dental Council
The Chair of Scottish Council, the Chair of Scottish Dental Practice Committee and the BDA National Director met with T Scott, GDC Director, Fitness to Practice and I Jackson, GDC Scottish Director on 7 November to discuss the latest GDC Fitness to Practice performance and other issues. BDA Scotland subsequently published a blog about the meeting.
9. Scottish Obesity Alliance
The Scottish Obesity Alliance launched its Manifesto on Wednesday 5 December 2018. The Alliance is a forum for organisations to collaborate to influence policy and practice on obesity prevention in Scotland and works to influence the Scottish and UK Governments policy on overweight and obesity. Scottish Council agreed to join the Alliance.
10. Consultations
The BDA has responded to several consultations. Copies of the responses can be found at: https://www.bda.org/scottishcouncil-consultations
11. BDA Honours and Awards
The closing date for the next round of BDA Honours and Awards applications is 31 May 2019. Further information can be found at: https://www.bda.org/about-the-bda/honours-andawards
12. BDA Scottish Dental Conference & Exhibition
A successful BDA Scottish Dental Conference and Exhibition was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow on Friday 7 September 2018. The 2019 conference will be held on Friday 20 September.
13. Arrangements for the Next Meeting
The next meeting of Scottish Council will take place on 21 March 2019 at 13:30hrs at the BDA Scotland office in Stirling.
David Cross
Vice-Chair, Scottish Council
December 2018