Mark V Willings Covering Letter

Dear Colleague

I have great pleasure in enclosing the annual newsletter from FGDP(UK) Yorkshire Division – I very much hope you`ll find this useful , informative and perhaps even inspirational ! Please enjoy this with complements and pass it around all your colleagues to spread the news about the Faculty and the opportunities available for all members of the dental team.

I also enclose very exciting information about this year`s Masterclass , Occlusion – What every GDP Needs to Know , which will be given by Mr.Raj RajaRayan OBE – Raj truly is a world-class speaker and if you have never heard him then you really must not miss this opportunity to come and listen to what will be a very humorous and enjoyable Masterclass – knowing Raj he will also probably touch on many other facets of our professional lives – clinical , political and educational. I have heard Raj speak a number of times , but I would still not miss the opportunity to listen to him again – he really is that good ! I would recommend this event to all members of the dental team at any level of training or experience – you will not regret it !

There is also further information on next year`s MJDF programme, which is run by Nick Lane with the help of Richard Frost , Mark Mcalister and Aman Bharti – this course is now in its fifth successful year and is proving invaluable for candidates preparing for the MJDF. I must at this point acknowledge the hard work that Nick and his team have put in and thank them very much for all the dedication they give to running such an excellent course – if you are considering the MJDF , this really is a must for you and will help you to succeed.

Finally, I offer my congratulations to all those who have achieve success this year and hope this acts as inspiration to all readers – you can achieve so much through the FGDP(UK).

1. Newsletter (below)

2. MJDF

3. Masterclass

I hope you enjoy our newsletter.

I do not need to remind any dentist of the extra burdens being placed on the profession, with increased regulation and seemingly more and more hoops to jump through and more boxes to tick, as we seek to comply with legislation and regulations such at HTML105 and Care Quality Commission.

The FGDP is striving to have a bigger voice politically and we need greater grass not support from our membership for this to happen. I would urge all members to become active within our Division.

The Yourkshire Division of the FGDP can also help. It is now increasingly important for our whole dental teams to be involved and delivery of high standards of patient care and of course compliance with the ever increasing amout of regulation does involve a full team approach. The FGDP can help to support all Clinicians, DCPs and Practices in a number of educational programmes are available for all members of the team. In particular may I draw your attention to the key skills packages available for dental nurses, these mirror the key skills package as part of the MJDF and I truly believe anybody having undertaken these key skill portfolio will have an excellent record, not only of their own CPD to fulfil GDC requirements, but it will also tick many of the boxes packages available for nurses and technicians and I would also urge you to look at the FGDP website.

You may be aware that Julia Armstrong is a member of the FGDP Board. We are very privileged to have Julia working with us and she is looking at offering some course through the Yorkshire Deanery for nurses to help prepare dental nurses for preparation of the key skill portfolio. If you have any questions for Julia she can be contacted at Julia.armstrong@yorksandhumber.nhs.uk, she is very approachable and she would love to hear from anybody interested in undertaking the key skills portfolio.

The Yorkshire Division is again very active in providing education and I believe this year’s Masterclass in a must not miss event. It is at the Masterclass that we also honour our VT Prize-winners _ Yorkshire Division sponsors prizes for the best cases presentations submitted by vocational dental practitioners as part of their foundation training - the best case presentation wins a cash prize of £750.00 and £250.00 for the Runner Up.

My congratulations go to last year’s winners Rana Alsaleh-Alsalem and Laura Robinson. Please come along to this year’s Masterclass to support the winner of this year’s vocational training prize winner. The winner will be announced and awarded with their prizes.

Finally, I would like to remind the members that this is your faculty and your division and I happy to hear feedback from anybody, either about the division’s activities or on national faculty issues. I would be more than happy to pass on any comments and should you wish to share your views please do not hesitate to email me.

You will be aware that there has been some discussion about the faculty’s organisational relationship with the Royal College of Surgeons of England and I would be particularly interested to hear any views on this subject.

The faculty is here to help you gain the most from your professional life and I would urge all readers to become involved more with the faculty and finding inspiration from some of the courses that the faculty has to offer. You too could be collecting a Diploma at next year’s award ceremony and be featured in our newsletter.

Mark Willings
Director of the Yorkshire Division

A delegates review of the 2010
Masterclass

I was looking forward to the study day with great anticipation, as I had heard Trevor Burke talk about aesthetic restorations before - I hadn’t, however, had the privilege of listening to such a prominent speaker for a whole day, so I was looking forward to learning more about the practical and scientific advances in aesthetic dentistry.

The day started with a brief introduction from Tony Griffin, Chairman of the FGDPUK() DCP Committee. Tony gave us a presentation of the new membership categories and diplomas available to DCPs. As our whole team was attending the study day, this was most useful as everyone went away felling that they had got something out of the study day.

It was then over to Trevor Burke to provide one of the most entertaining presentations I have ever experienced! I found the content really useful and something I could take away and start applying on the following Monday morning!

For me, occlusion was one topic I couldn’t seem to get my head around at dental school - especially the management of tooth surface loss - Trevor’s explanations and examples made this so much more understandable, and it was truly amazing to see how much could be done with the use of simple composite.

Overall I came away from this study day feeling that it would change the way I practice and very much look forward to the next Yorkshire Masterclass.

Saqib Hafiz
GDP, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Key Skills in Primary Care Assessment for DCPs

The Key Skills in Primary Dental Care Assessment for DCPs is a distance learning CPD programme. It covers the skills identified by the FGDP(UK) as vital to a high standard of patient care. DCPs present a portfolio of evidence reflection on their own activities and working practices relating to each Key Skill. You can undertake as many Key Skills assessments as you wish, and do so at your own pace. This programme carries up to 80 hours CPD that contribute to meeting your mandatory CPD requirements.

• Medical emergencies
• Infection control
• Record keeping
• Radiography
• Legislation
• Team development
• Communication and complaints handling (based on the Risk Management and Communication Key Skill)
• Dental materials

The registration fee is £30 for FGDP(UK) member (£60 for non- members) and this also covers your first Key Skill Assessment. Each subsequent assessment costs £20.

Reflection in Practice

The FGDP(UK) has recently introduced a stand-alone online module called Reflection in Practice for DCPs. This is an online module which allows participants to develop reflective skills that are essential to both further learning and continual improvement in patient care. Participants will have the opportunity to present their reflection for assessment. Those that are successful will receive a certificate of completion with 10 hours of verifiable CPD.

Reflection in Practice is undertaken using Touchstone, the FGDP(UK)’s new e-portfolio and learning system (free to members).

Registration for this module is free for FGDP(UK) DCP affiliate member (£15 fir non-members) and the assessment costs £20.

For further information about these and other opportunities for DCPs visit www.fgdp.org.uk or email Sandra Tavares at stavares@rcseng.ac.uk

Members will be aware that the Faculty has been considering some issues relating to its future. The background and issues were set out in a paper, click here. At its meeting in March, the Board considered all of the responses to the consultation. I am delighted to inform our members that the Board decided to confirm that the Faculty would remain with The Royal College of Surgeons of England while working towards the establishment of a College of Dentistry. The existing governance structure and arrangements relating to the Faculty’s finances and membership would be retained. The Faculty Board also confirmed the case for representation of the Faculty on the College Council with at least two seats (the College Council is the overall governing body for the College, and at present the Faculty is unrepresented). Details on joint working within the College would be subject to negotiations satisfactory to the Board.

In associated development, a new joint dental council is being formed, which will be made up of the Deans and Vice Deans of both the FGDP(UK) and FDS, and two additional board members from both faculties. Elections for the two FGDP(UK) board member seats will take place on 3rd May 2011.

The joint council will act as an advisory body to the dental faculties of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, whose objective is to guide and promote joint working of the dental faculties. It will provide a forum for discussion and possible mutually beneficial collaboration (without prejudice to either independent faculty), so as to promote the work of the faculties for the benefit of the public.

The move will represent a significant step forward for both faculties, and will ensure that the working partnership which has been formed in the development of the joint MJDF assessment continues to flourish for the benefit of our clinicians, and ultimately, patient care within the UK.

Dr Steve Byfield
FGDP(UK) Board Member representing Yorkshire