Delivering the 18 Weeks Referral to Treatment Standard Output Report

Robust evaluation will be carried out at the end of each stage. After which, themultimedia, and multi-disciplinary care record will be available to roll out to supportother NHS Boards and Orthodontic MCNs and link them to a national Network.The multimedia and multi-disciplinary care record will be readily adaptable to meetthe requirements of other emerging MCNs in dentistry.Dental Specialties’ Workforce Skills MixWorkforce considerations can inevitably impact on the ability of any service to delivertimely, high quality patient care.The Task and Finish Group clearly recognises recruitment difficulties faced in someNHS Boards. It is acknowledged that workforce issues in the central belt are quitedifferent to issues in, for example remote and rural areas, where a different range ofsolutions may be required. This, however, is even more reason to explore andaddress the skills mix and competency base within the existing workforce.NHS Boards are encouraged to review their workforce capacity and competencyprofile, with a view to strengthening roles and responsibilities of differentcontributors, to ensure that each task is undertaken by the most appropriate person.Increasing use of members of the multi disciplinary team, and development ofenhanced roles will free up considerable amounts of consultant time for direct patientcare. Given the existing multi-disciplinary workforce and the range of servicesprovided, many Boards have identified new ways of working to optimise the use ofand the skills-mix of available practitioners. This allows the development of existingcompetencies to support identified care pathways and streamline systems andprocessesIt is paramount for NHS Boards to have accurate activity data to ascertain workforcerequirements for each stage in the patient journey. Aspects of this approach form anelement of the Chief Dental Officer’s Workforce Review.Certain strategies could be adopted to assist with current workforce issues:• The role of the Dental Support Worker could be developed under protocol, butthis would require additional education and training. This could be facilitated inconsultation with NHS Education Scotland.• Orthodontic Therapists are a new group of professionals who can assist with theclinical workload e.g. taking dental impressions and fitting brackets. Courses arecurrently available in Edinburgh and Coatbridge. There is also scope to use theseprofessionals’ in return Orthodontic appointments to free up consultants’ time fornew appointment slots.• There may be opportunities within secondary care to up-skill dentists inprocedures where they may have previously lacked confidence, and theseprocedures can therefore be efficiently managed in the primary care setting.Dental Specialties Task & Finish Group – January 2011 34