Scottish LDC conference
Scottish LDC conference sparks debate
Working party to look at breakaway ‘Scottish Association of LDCs’ as well as an alternative to the BDA in Scotland
T
he annual Scottish Conference of Local Dental Committees is often a lively affair and this year’s event was no different. Held at the Stirling
Management Centre on 25 April, the conference saw plenty of debate and discussion as well as the passing of two groundbreaking motions. Ayrshire and Arran LDC put forward
a motion asking conference to “set up a working group to proceed with the forma- tion of a Scottish Association of LDCs” and Greater Glasgow and Clyde LDC proposed: “Due to the current dissatisfac- tion in Scotland with the performance of the BDA in London, this conference calls for the establishment of a new Scottish- based body to represent and negotiate on behalf of Scottish GDPs.” Following the presentation of these motions, Mick Armstrong, chair of the BDA’s Principal Executive Committee and Pat Kilpatrick, national director of the BDA in Scotland, spoke against the motions and any breakaway organisation. However, following a thorough debate of the issues, both motions were carried by a large majority, with 2ı voting for the motions, three against and two abstentions. As a result, conference revisited
the issue later that day to agree to the setting up of an LDC working party, with Kieran Fallon OBE elected chair. The working party was tasked with contacting all Scottish LDC organisations to seek local representatives and will investigate alternatives to the BDA to negotiate on behalf of GDPs in Scotland. It will also advise on what can be done within
the BDA to address the concerns of its members in Scotland over the running of the organisation. The conference began the previous day
with a pre-conference dinner held at the management centre. Conference chair Jeff Ellis thanked the Agenda Committee for all their hard work organising the conference and gave special thanks to Fiona Angus, former BDA Senior Policy Advisor who was recently made redundant, for her years of service to conference. During the evening Donald McKie,
a member of Ayrshire and Arran LDC since ı983, was presented with a Life- time Achievement Award. The Agenda Committee then presented a special Lifetime Achievement Award to Alistair McLean in recognition of the extraordi- nary role that he played in dental politics and the BDA over a very long career. The conference proper began on the Friday morning and, following a hustings
Robert Donald, chair of SDPC
style debate featuring MSPs Jackson Carlow (Con), Dr Richard Simpson (Lab) and Mark McDonald (SNP), Scotland’s Chief Dental Officer Margie Taylor gave her presentation on six topics suggested by the Agenda Committee. This included questions on why a core
service was not being considered by Scot- tish Government, whether MIDAS was fit for purpose and whether the government had any plans to implement a properly funded preventative programme for adults similar to the Childsmile programme. The other topics covered a request for an update on workforce planning, what plans the government had for regulatory bodies in the event of a Yes vote in September and what plans there were in Holyrood to address the inequalities in care for those patients that require domiciliary care. Robert Donald, chair of Scottish Dental
Practice Committee, then gave a report on the work undertaken by the committee over the last year. He highlighted the fact that it had been another tough year with increasing ‘dental inflation’, working under a fixed budget and a public sector pay policy with an earnings threshold of £80K. On top of this, the latest DDRB report highlighted that Scottish GDPs now had the lowest net income compared to the other home countries. He gave a detailed analysis of the
David McKie (left) receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award from Jeff Ellis
recovery of overpayments issue and how SDPC had challenged the Scottish Government at each and every opportu- nity – including the use of the Scottish media to gain further concessions for the profession. His report also high- lighted the need to protect the various allowances GDP’s receive from the GDS and the need for investment in the dental service. He finished by stressing the importance of the Scottish LDC conference in guiding SDPC policy – particularly in relation to the motions debated and passed that afternoon.
Scottish Dental magazine 33
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