FEA TURE A VARIED CAREER
TOM FERRIS’ LIFE IN DENTISTRY HAS TAKEN IN POSTS FROM MALTA TO SPRINGBURN ON THE WAY TO HIS CURRENT ROLE WITH THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
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cotland’s Deputy Chief Dental Officer Tom Ferris has enjoyed a diverse career since he graduated from Glasgow in 1982 – and he admits it is the love of variety that
attracted him to his current role. His first job in practice was
with Willie Nicol and Norton Grossman in Viewpark, not far from the famous Tunnock’s factory in neighbouring Uddingston. He then spent two years in Malta before returning to Glasgow Dental Hospital in 1986, where he was involved with a fluoride gel study in the east end of Glasgow. After this, he spent a decade in the community dental service in Springburn before being appointed clinical director of the CDS at Falkirk Royal Hospital in 2001. Alongside these roles, Tom also worked with Jim Rennie at NHS Education for Scotland as a CPD and general professional training advisor for the community service. His route to the Scottish
Government role he now occupies can be traced back to the mid-1980s. Tom said: “In 1986, I met Norman Colquhoun, then CDO for Scotland, and I was struck by what a varied job he had. Tat level of variety was my kind of post, so it was always in the back of my mind that someday, if the opportunity arose, I would like to explore it. “A few years later, I saw the
advert for deputy CDO and the variety offered by the post was very attractive. So, I applied and went through what was quite an arduous selection day of problem solving tasks, psychometric tests and formal
Tom Ferris
interview – and was delighted to be successful. I started in June 2010 and have enjoyed every day so far, even with the daily commute.” Tom’s day involves three
main aspects. Firstly, the reactive – dealing with enquiries to the minister or the CDO from the public, press and MSPs. Secondly, the proactive – looking at how to improve dentistry and oral health for the public and the profession, “a fine balancing act,” he says. Finally, he spends a great deal of
time in meetings with the profession itself, from various groups and representative bodies and individual clinicians. He said: “I am very well aware that Scotland has some very gifted and committed NHS dentists and teams and meeting and communicating with them is absolutely vital.” When asked what he felt were
his main achievements– and the CDO’s – in the last five years, he
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said: “Our main achievement has been ensuring that the voice of dentistry and oral health is heard in all wider health discussions within the Scottish Government specifically and throughout Scotland generally. We have an incredibly skilled and committed group of policy colleagues without whom our impact would be significantly lessened.” Looking to the future, Tom said
that workforce planning is likely to be one of the major challenges. He said: “Te significant improvement in the oral health of children is great to see and as this cohort moves into adulthood then the treatment need will reduce – balancing our dental workforce to match these improvements will be complex particularly given the time lag due to the length of the undergraduate course and the number of dentists from outwith Scotland coming to work in our system.”
SCO TTISH DENT AL
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