Interview By Bruce Oxley
“I was sad to leave and sad to be leaving the people I worked with, but I’m now looking forward to the rest of my life”
Continued »
was £350m. The current Government, since coming into office in 2007, has continued to fund dentistry and, indeed, the funding for dentistry is now just under £400m. “So, in six years we have seen the spend
on dentistry double and an increase in the numbers of dentists working in Scotland.” Andrew explained that the initial challenge for him and his team was to respond to the consultation and ensure that the way the money was delivered to dentists to provide dental services was as effective as it possibly could be. He said: “One of the biggest challenges
was the way that dentists were deemed to be committed to the NHS and we had a lot of negotiations around the measure of commitment to the NHS, which determined dentists’ ability to access the General Dental Practice Allowance (GDPA). We saw this as a priority to keep people who want to work within the NHS in viable practices. “The viability of NHS dental practices
is very much down to the GDPA and the BDA is committed to try to preserve that as much as it possibly can. At the moment, as we go through difficult financial times as a country in general, we have been making sure that the GDPA was high on the agenda.” When Scottish Dental spoke to Andrew,
his successor hadn’t been announced (see box-out), but he said that whoever came in would need to focus on maintaining relationships.
He said: “I think it is an exciting time for
the BDA in Scotland, with a new person coming in perhaps with different ideas, different thoughts and maybe a different focus. “But if I was to offer one piece of advice,
the main thing I would say is to make sure that they build up the relationships between the various stakeholders in Scot- land, build on the working relationships that the BDA already has. There may be other working relationships that they think are important as well. It is important to build on these and recognise that change can take time.” But why did he decide to retire now?
Andrew said: “I’m 63 next year, I reckon I’m reasonably fit and there are plenty of things in life that I want to do. I very much enjoy hill walking, I want to keep fit, I have grandchildren who I want to spend time with and I think it is time to move on to the next phase of my life. “And, as Peter Ward [the BDA’s chief
executive] said, it is better to leave a job when you are enjoying it rather than carrying on until you maybe stop enjoying it. I think on that basis it was the right decision to make. “I was sad to leave and sad to leave the
people I worked with, but I’m now looking forward to the rest of my life.”
BDA ANNOUNCES PAT KILPATRICK TO TAKE OVER AS NATIONAL DIRECTOR FOR SCOTLAND
The British Dental Asso- ciation (BDA) in Scotland has recently announced Andrew’s replacement as national director Pat Kilpatrick, who will take up the post in the new year. Graduating from the University of Dundee, Pat joined the Graduate Training Scheme for NHS management before going on to senior roles within NHS Scotland, including director of clinical development at
NHS Argyll and Clyde and director of planning at North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust. She led the National Task Force on the development of Primary Care Trusts in Scotland in 1997.
As academic director in the School of Manage- ment at the University of Stirling, she developed the first MBA postgraduate degree programme designed to develop the management skills of
both doctors and dentists. Latterly, her career has been in consulting. She joined Tribal Consulting in 2006 as a director, before going on to launch her own business in 2010. Pat said: “Dentistry in Scotland faces a complex set of challenges. I look forward to playing my part in helping the profession overcome them and advancing the cause of oral health in Scotland.”
Scottish Dental magazine 25
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