News Scotland leads the way
Speakers at a national conference say Scotland gets it right on decontamination guidance
When it comes to decontamina- tion and infection control Scotland is leading the way in Europe according to a leading Glasgow University academic. Professor Andrew Smith was speaking at the university’s fourth National Conference on Decontamination of Dental Instruments, held at the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds in November. The aim of the event was to
present the theory and practice of local decontamination, giving practical advice alongside sound scientific evidence. With speakers from all over the UK and Ireland, the confer- ence covered a wide range of
topics from Dr Riina Richardson’s look at infectious diseases in the oral cavity to Mark McCutcheon’s experi- ences advising more than 80 practices on installing LDUs. Guidance and the variations
in guidance were themes that ran through the day, but there were constant nods towards Scotland, as David Hurrell, microbiologist with Healthcare Science Ltd, remarked: “England and Wales tend to march together, Northern Ireland take a slightly divergent view. And Scotland gets it right.” And Dr Smith agrees, he said:
“Certainly in Scotland perhaps we don’t fly the flag often
enough. We have put an enor- mous amount of time, money and effort into trying to address these challenges. I think that we are probably about the best in Europe, and I don’t think that message gets out to dental prac- titioners, patients and other
point of use or not, Prof Smith insisted he felt it was just a mat- ter of time before a consensus was reached. “I think most peo- ple will tend to admit that it is not a revolution,” he said. “We’re going to have an evolution and we will move eventually to ster- ile at point of use. Basically, the same standards that apply to all other surgical professions. I think we will get there, it is just a matter of time. And money, of course.” Prof Smith has also been
Above: Royal Armouries museum
people in central government enough.”
When asked about the con- stant debate about whether instruments need to be sterile at
recently appointed as the chair- man of a new Europe-wide infection control organisation, the Association for European Safety and Infection Control in Dentistry. He said: “It will be a very useful forum for commu- nication as well as, I hope, a lead for research and innovation.”
Scottish Dental magazine 15
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