Hi All
Well things are hotting up now as predicted - more than I can say for the weather!
As Lancashire LDC Executive we met with the LAT Team last Wednesday and are reinforcing relationships to ensure we get the best out of the situation for us as dentists as the new saga unfolds
The squeeze is on financially and this does come as no surprise. what we are looking to do is to develop new ways of working between the LDC and the LAT to get to an acceptable end point
Issues for us at present are
1. Lack of DPA 2. The stopping of Appraisal
Plus issues raised directly to me by Lancashire Practitioners
3. The roll out of the MOSS scheme to Central and Coastal 4. Issues around the process of allocating patients to practices from the Access Allocation Database in BwD
Lets take them in order
1. We have continually pushed for the LAT to ensure they have appropriate DPA support in place now the existing DPAs have disappeared in the restructure and we were informed at the Liaison meeting that there would be some support in place on an interim basis and it is hoped funding would be made available for the future - so that is a positive start - lets wait and see
2. Negotiations have been going on continually with both the LAT and Jim Gardner re appraisal and we are awaiting the outcome of suggestions put forward by Jim to secure appraisal into the future. Jim and the LAT are fully supportive of appraisal it is just a matter of how it gets funded. I myself have been in touch with Jim around developments. I did also contact Barry Cockcroft to state our case to continue with what has to be the best appraisal process in the country now we have combined the existing schemes across the County and although supportive Barry Cockcroft did suggest we took it up with the Local Professional Network when it is in place - we will do that - so fingers crossed!
3. Roll out of MOSS (Minor Oral Surgery Service) - this is the process of withdrawing MOSS from the acute setting and delivering it in Primary Care. A scheme has been running in Blackpool and N Lancs for a period of years now and in January 2012 a further scheme with a more rigorous recruitment process developed in East Lancs and BwD. This scheme has now gone through a process in Central Lancs but organisational change has delayed the implementation of it.
To explain the process - it is put out to tender under the Any Qualified Provider (AQP) process whereby applicants have to have a skills test on a pigs head and an interview to scrutinise practices processes governance etc. Success in this process does not secure any definitive contract value but a qualification to provide MOSS services. Patients are then referred into the service from practitioners and triaged (by the AQP dentists) and then referred out to a Referral Management/Choose and Book service to allocate to MOSS providers on a patients choice basis.
Central should be starting soon and then eventually it will roll out to Coastal. I will make sure that everyone gets to know when this process is happening
4. Access Allocation - a practitioner from BwD raised with me last week the issue of him not being able to take patients directly when they called into his practice but had to take them from the Access Allocation Database and these patients did not always live close to the practice. I raised this with the LAT last week and they are going to look into it. There was an acceptance that geographical location should be a factor in the placement of patients with a practice. i will keep you updated but if any others out there have similar feelings please let me know.
Communication - in Coastal we are developing a Website which will support communication with all of you out there - as we know communication is key for success. Once we have got this up and running (courtesy of Stuart Johnson in Lancaster) we will look to make it accessible county wide - I will keep you updated as to progress.
And finally!
It is the Dental Transformation Board on Wednesday this week and we will be in attendance - I will take forward as usual any issues from the profession. If you have anything you wish to raise please feel free to drop me an email on either
bernard@lancashirecoastalldc.co.uk or bernard.alston@fcms.nhs.uk
Upwards and Onwards
Bernard