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dental practice education for the west of Scotland, said: “It is abso- lutely true they will only go to the well if they are thirsty and when John is saying that someone calls him in when they are in trouble, that is because they have a need. They can contextualise what you are telling them at the time and that could be at quite different times. Tax might be their focus this year, appraisal might be in two year’s time.” “We have to start with the kids
in dental schools, or am I wrong?” asked John Barry. To which Hew Mathewson
responded: “The dental school curriculum is grossly crowded and is increasingly badly taught in overcrowded dental schools by overworked academics. “My own thought is that there
should be a compulsory module and the moment you want to own a practice then you have to do this module and pass an online assess- ment. It needs to be there, but what happens is that people sail into buying and owning practices without that basic business skill.” Jill Taylor, president of ADAM,
said: “The biggest difficulty I found as a practice manager was that you didn’t know where to turn. You think you are doing the right thing but you’re fumbling about in the dark. If there was a resource that you could go to then I would certainly have welcomed it in practice.” Hew Mathewson then brought
up the issue of government cuts in dentistry. He said: “We know there are cuts coming, you don’t have to be a genius to see that there are more and more dentists in Scotland and a fixed budget. “I think unemployment will really
bite after ı August. I advertised a job which went on the BDJ website two weeks ago tonight and I have had 60-plus applicants.” The conversation then turned
towards training and Charles Ormond, a GDP from Falkirk, asked about SUSAN’s online training components, commenting that: “I don’t think that there is any substitute for hands on training of a practical procedure in the practice, rather than watching it on a video.” BADN president Nicola Docherty agreed, stating that NES has a DVD
30 Scottish Dental magazine
for medical emergencies training but that they are still recommending that dental professions do at least one face-to-face training session. John Barry responded by explaining that the training on SUSAN is best used to supplement face-to-face training. “Learning doesn’t happen in one event, learning happens by repetition,” he said. He said that he would rather his
staff look at something like medical emergencies four times a year including a face-to-face session, something that SUSAN can facili- tate and record to make sure that the staff member has done the training. Hew Mathewson then remarked
that some colleagues complete much or all of their CPD online. “It becomes very easy to hide away, fill in a questionnaire and get it all badly wrong and still get the CPD,” he said. “It is only when you are exposed on a hands-on course that you are challenged.” The question of dentists
supporting their staff members’ training, in terms of money and time, was then tackled. Nicola Docherty said: “We have actually got dental nurses who have to pay for their pre-registration training.” And David Foster responded by
saying: “Out of a hundred sets of accounts we would probably see two where training is a recognisable item in the expenses column. It just doesn’t appear.” The table then turned their atten-
tion back to dentists as businessmen and women with John Barry saying:
“The dentist is an accidental busi- nessman. What gets in the way of dentistry is money. If the dentist wants to do dentistry, they will do the best treatment they could possibly conceive for every patient that walks in the door. But that is not reality. Reality is we have to have this debate about what somebody can afford. Even on the NHS.” Alan Walker then asked: “Are we
slowly moving away from the situ- ation of the dentist being the sole business manager, towards them delegating things?” John Barry commented that
some practice managers are simply not allowed to do their jobs by a dentist who “doesn’t know what he doesn’t know”. To which Jill Taylor responded by saying: “Quite often they are given the title of practice manager and they are dumped out onto reception and expected to be a receptionist with a practice manager’s title.” “If you are not in charge of a
budget, you are not managing,” said John Barry. “You are just given a title and the
blame,” agreed Hew Mathewson. Nicola Docherty then asked: “Is
“Learning doesn’t happen in one event, learning happens by repetition”
John Barry
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