The Minutes of the Previous Meeting Were Approved and Signed by the Chair

MINUTES FROM THE MEETING OF CORNWALL AND ISLES OF SCILLY LOCAL DENTAL COMMITTEE HELD AT ALVERTON HOTEL, TRURO ON TUESDAY 13th OCTOBER 2015

Present: Taylor Andy (chair), Taylor (Melissa), Blake, Harrington, Mount, Higgins, Bradburn, Kiernander, Brooks, Taylor (Anna), Taylor (Charles)

Apologies: Bason

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved and signed by the chair.

All committee members expressed their sadness at the recent loss of a fellow dentist and LDC member Daniel Ball. The committee agreed to send a card to the family and that if anybody wanted to make a personal contribution then this should go to MIND.

ACTION POINTS FROM LAST MEETING

1.  The out of hours situation has now been sorted

2.  The open meeting is still in the decision making process. It is hoped it will be held in March. Carrie will also contact Kevin Lewis to ask him to talk. Different topics were discussed among committee members as options for talks.

3.  FDs should be paying the levy. The BDA was also contacted about this and confirmed.

4.  The occupational health cover for dentists being added to the performers list is still in place.

5.  Steph will propose an answerphone message regarding out of hours services for practices. This will be discussed by the committee before being agreed.

CHAIRS REPORT

Andrew attended the LDC joint meeting with Devon. The outcome of the orthodontic needs assessment was not agreed with by orthodontists. It was based on old data. It seems that existing contracts may be extended by 2 years as things are still up in the air.

The LPNs are not making good progress and it’s disappointing it doesn’t seem to be making tangible change to dentists working in secondary care.

REPORT ON THE ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE MEETING (CARG)

Adam attended the first meeting on august 5th. The group is looking at antimicrobial resistance in Cornwall. They are looking at prescribing and accountability. Currently all medical GPs who are in the top 10% of prescribers of antibiotics are receiving warning letters. At the moment there is nothing similar for dentists and they are not sure what to do. They are gathering info at the moment. Andrew suggested they contact Andrew Harris to see if they can record antibiotic prescribing in some way. Charles mentioned to Adam to bring up about sugar free medicines when prescribing. There is currently a penicillin allergy de-escalation project as there is a simple test for this. It maybe possible for dentists to do this? An antibiotic prescribing project in Cornwall was discussed at the end with the option of audits/questionnaires a possibility. Adam advised that a survey with CPD attributed might be a good idea. Educating the public to not ask for antibiotics is being explored. They are trying to get a place at the Eden project to promote this idea.

REPORT FROM THE SOUTH WEST ORTHODONTIC WORKING GROUP

Dai sent an email with his thoughts to the group as he was unable to attend. Unfortunately he did not see any mention of his letter in the minutes that followed. It seems that all future meetings will be via video conferencing.

TREASURERS REPORT

Carrie reported that the LDC account balance stood at -£15,693.66. There is a cheque waiting to be paid for around £30,000 which will take us back to around +£15000. The profit and loss draft copy for the year was given to committee members and all agreed that we should continue forwards with our study group meetings, open meeting and website updating as we are currently. A breakdown of claims made by committee members will be put together by Carrie soon. Charles mentioned about claiming by committee members for meetings. He felt that LDC meetings should not be claimed for. Dom disagreed with this and it was agreed by a majority to continue as we are for now.

PASS

Further information on this needs to be put on the website. Carrie mentioned that PASS will be included in the next newsletter again as well as details on the cause for concern process and then added to the website.

LOCAL STUDY GROUP

The study group was a great success and the next meeting will be on November 24th. The details of this are to be put on our website and have been forwarded by email to people who have shown an interest.

GDPC REPORT

GDC REPORT

Dom attended the GDC meeting on 5th October in London. The redevelopment of the GDC building has cost £9.7 million. Evlynne Gilvarry said that this was necessary as there was still 50 years remaining on their lease. They agreed not to advertise non-statutory activity again using the annual retention fee. This was used to advertise in the Telegraph before. They will not go back through patient notes when a complaint comes in unless a serious issue has been identified by a specialist as this is then their statutory duty.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Steph has contacted Mark Sanford-Wood but has received no reply. It appears that the devon doctors occupational health service that was offered no longer exists. The sentinel service seems to be going very well and it appears this may be the replacement. It is proposed that a psychological service will be added to this service from April 2016 and the information will come out in December. Steph will email Ben Charnaud to confirm arrangements in Cornwall.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

It was agreed Andrew and Melissa will attend LDC officials day in December.

Dom needs someone to deal with some of the referrals at the referral management centre. Anna and Zoe have agreed to help with this.

ACTION POINTS:

1: Carrie to contact Kevin Lewis regarding our open meeting and to look further into the options for speakers

2: Steph to decide on an answerphone message for the out of hours service for practitioners to play on their answerphones

3: Mel to forward the email from Andrew Harris regarding Christmas opening hours

4: Carrie to find out if Jonathan Hindle is happy for us to put his slides and handouts on claiming and charges on the LDC website and around the email list

The next meeting is to be held on Tuesday 19th January 6.30pm at Alverton Hotel, Truro

The meeting closed at 9.00pm.