Interview By Richard Croasdale
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Man of the
His career has taken him from a tiny village on Lewis to the corridors of power… and back. But Norman Mackenzie has never been happier
oftly spoken, with a lyrical Hebridean accent, Norman Mackenzie comes across as charming and thoughtful. Having spent his entire
working life building up his own successful dental practice in central Glasgow, ten years ago he moved back to his home town of Carloway, Lewis, to retire in the house left to him by his parents. Norman’s professional career began in
ı958, when he moved to Glasgow to attend university, qualifying in ı964. In ı967, he bought over a family NHS practice in the city’s Duke Street after his predecessor – who had succeeded his father – passed away. He spent the next 25 years gradu- ally building up the practice, taking on an assistant, then an associate, another partner and a hygienist. But he also spent these decades
becoming actively involved in the profes- sion’s politics, after joining the BDA’s local section at the end of the ı960s. He
was appointed secretary of the West of Scotland branch in ı980 and elected as its president in ı987. In these latter roles, he also spent ten
years on the association’s representative board, attending meetings in London and playing a pivotal role in many of the big decisions of the time. Most notably, he was a member of the GDSC (General Dental Services Committee) from ı987 to ı990, involved in negotiating (and voting in favour of) the hugely divisive ı990 contract. “I still think the contract the profession
had to accept way back in ı990 was not bad at all,” he reflects. “We had identified what changes we wanted to take place within the profession, we had researched that with questionnaires to all the dentists and we got most of the things they wanted. “In the end, it came back to the old
problem – there wasn’t enough money involved. And that’s why the bulk of the profession seemed to turn against it. We
“I thought rather than get to that point and be forced to sell, it would be better to do it on my own terms”
Norman Mckenzie 22 Scottish Dental magazine
were being asked to do extra things, such as emergency care, apparently without any extra money. “But we knew at the time that the
contract was going to go ahead anyway, whatever the GDSC said, so it was really about getting the best deal for the profession within the confines of what was on offer.” The ill feeling created by the GDSC’s
acceptance of the contract – which had been rejected by a referendum of the profession – effectively ended Norman’s political career and he was forced to stand down in ı990. He ruefully notes that, as it worked out, the contract proved so lucra- tive for the profession that the Government later stepped in to reduce fees. In ı993, he was appointed chairman of
the Scottish Dental Practice Board for three years. At around the same time, he decided to sell his share of the practice to a third partner and see out the rest of his career as an associate. “I was looking ahead and only had a few years to go until I was due to retire. At that
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