Dental outreach Everyone’s “T


here is no compe- tition, there is no point scoring, it is just a very positive, collaborati ve


framework that we’ve got.” These are the words of Andrew Hall,


final year coordinator at Dundee Dental School, but they could have been spoken by any one of a number of people involved in one of the most successful, and far- reaching, dental projects of recent times. Both Dundee and Glasgow dental schools have collaborated with ten out of the 14 health boards in Scotland, as well as NHS Education for Scotland, to produce a comprehensive dental outreach programme that is garnering overwhelm- ingly positive reviews from all involved. Dental outreach is not especially new,


Glasgow has been running a paediatric outreach programme for a number of years and it also piloted student outreach back in 1997. What is different about the current system, introduced nationwide in 2006, is the fact that it brings together so many different elements and provides so many solutions to common problems. Andrew Forgie, (pictured) Associate


Dean for Postgraduate Dental Education at NHS Education for Scotland, who supplies all the revenue funding for out- reach, explained: “I think that it has been successful because nobody is trying to get more out of it than anyone else. If every- one is gaining and nobody is trying to take advantage of anyone else then I think you are more likely to get better collaboration. “The ethos behind outreach was three-


20 Scottish Dental magazine


fold: to give students experience outwith the dental schools, to provide service in areas that have either a lack of NHS provision or where there is a high treat- ment need, and finally,


to promote recruitment into areas that are having


a winner


A project that brings together two universities, ten health boards and a major NHS funding body could be a headache in the making. But, as Bruce Oxley discovers, positive collaboration is a powerful thing


Glasgow and Dundee students (and eventually Aberdeen when their first final year comes through) spend roughly half their final year on outreach placements in various locations, seeing a diverse range of patients. David Watson, Senior Clinical


University Teacher and course coordina- tor for BDS5 at Glasgow Dental School, is the teaching lead for outreach at Glasgow and was involved with the original pilot at Greenock Health Centre. He was a salaried dentist working in the centre when outreach was trialled and he had no doubt it was a positive development. He said: “I always did think it would work. I didn’t think it would be easy, and it has been a lot of hard work on all sides. It has involved a lot of travelling around and monitoring, but I think that the feedback that we have had has confirmed that it is working.”


And, although the outreach


“I think it has been successful because nobody is trying to get more out of it than anyone else. If everyone is gaining and nobody is taking advantage you are more likely to get better collaboration”


difficulty recruiting dentists or students.” There are currently 12 dental outreach


centres across the country, providing more than 70 chairs. And, with a further five centres in development, the number of outreach chairs will be over 100 by 2012.


programmes at Glasgow and Dundee differ in the specifics, the two schools have worked closely together over the past few years, sharing knowledge and experience. The fact that Andrew worked with David in Greenock when the original outreach was being set-up, further strengthens the alliance. Andrew said: “It’s a great working relationship and I know that if I have a problem in Dundee, I can phone up David and ask them what they did in Glasgow, how they got round a particular problem and vice versa.” David and Andrew are supported by full-time outreach administrators Frank


Continued »


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