Dentistry
Welcome from the Dental Dean
Congratulations to Anne Milarvie, who was awarded the prestigious "Vocational Trainer of the Year", a national award sponsored by the Dental Defence Union. Anne is currently one of our VT Trainers and we are very proud of her - well done Anne.
There have been massive changes across healthcare in general and dentistry in particular in the last twelve months and many of us are still not sure of all the consequences. One thing that many of us have come to rely upon is the Dental Deaneries and their commitment to supporting dentists with their educational needs. Local Government boundary changes have meant the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) of South Yorkshire has now merged with our two SHAs of West Yorkshire and NEYNL (North East and North Lincolnshire) to form the new Yorkshire and Humber SHA (and Deanery). This is producing significant changes for my medical colleagues but thankfully the boundary changes will mean little change for dentistry and the Leeds Office will still deal with your educational requirements.
Our philosoph for continuing professional development is to structure an annual CPD curriculum to allow you to plan your dental education much further ahead. You should now be used to receiving a large A2 course planner that will allow you to see and plan your CPD at a glance. (If we do not have your name and address, please contact us and we will make sure you are added to our mailing list). You will also see that this is not only for dentists but for all the members of the dental team. In this regard our two Dental Nurse Tutors, Julia and Geraldine, are working hard at putting on courses and giving advice on access to GDC Registration. It is essential that all Dental Nurses are registered by July 2008 or else, unless they are registered for approved training, they will not be able to work. In the run up to DCP registration, we would be very happy to offer any advice on registration that you or your staff may need. You may also have noticed the introduction of larger, higher profile, deanery courses which we will continue to run, primarily to give you and your staff the opportunity to satisfy the GDC's corse CPD requirements. We are also aware of the popularity of hands-on courses and with that in mind we have appointed Stephen Ross, a Tutor whose sole role is the running of hands-on courses. We have also purchased some contemporary dental manikins and surgical minor inserts for minor oral surgery hands-on teaching.
We also continue to work on many fronts including; vocational training, dental foundation training, multi-professional education, specialist training, personal development planning, workforce development and dealing with dentists in difficulty. We are already planning how to cope nationally with the extra 170 dental graduates from 2010 and when the output of the Leeds Dental Institute will rise from 55 to 95 students per year. So if you are thinking about becoming, or returning as, a Vocational Trainer, start planning now and get in touch with us and we will help.
It is my sole role to continue that the resources remain in dentistry to support postgraduate dental education and, with my colleagues, to provide the support you need to treat your patients well, and develop your own skills. If you have any comments about this site, or about PG Education in Yorkshire please feel free to e-mail me at p.cook@yorkshiredeanery.com.
Paul Cook
Postgraduate Dental Dean (Yorkshire)
January 2008