Sara Hurley, the chief dental officer for England, has updated the dental team on the NHS contractual changes.
She states that contractors with an indicative UDA value of less than £23 should have received a letter from their local area team.
This should confirm whether this will be implemented through either a reduction in required annual activity or an increase in their annual contract value (with activity requirements remaining the same).
It reads: ‘From 1 October, several contractual changes will come into place including a minimum indicative UDA value of £23, updates to support enhanced UDAs for higher needs patients and personalisation of recall intervals, promoting more effective use of skill mix and other changes requiring regulatory amendments.’
Staff are also encouraged to undergo an influenza jab ahead of the upcoming winter. This includes both clinical and non-clinical staff who have contact with patients to protect the staff and patients.
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Promoting skill mix
The update also focuses on the implementation of skill mix – another feature of the contract changes made this summer.
The hope is to promote the use of dental therapists and other DCPs by ensuring they operate within their full scope of practice.
‘The existing GDS Regulations (Schedule 3, Part 4, paragraph 22) identify dental hygienists, dental therapists and professionals specified under section 36A of the Dentists Act as being able to provide services under the contract provided that they are a dental care professional and their registration is not subject to suspension,’ Sara Hurley adds.
‘These staff are therefore able to provide care under the contract in accordance with their scope of practice and competence.
‘Contractors are advised that any changes to current working practices should be preceded by an individual conversation with the DCP concerned to ascertain current levels of competence and confidence and any support required to work to their full scope of practice.’
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