The dental profession is renowned for its love of an acronym, but sometimes they need to be spelled out – the ADG explains its role in UK dentistry.
While acronyms are a great shortcut if you are in the know, they represent more of a challenge if you are unsure – and are wondering if it is too awkward to ask!
So, tackling the challenge head-on, we are going to turn the question back on ourselves to ask, and then answer, the question: so, what do you actually do? What does the ADG stand for and what is the point of the association?
It’s a good question and the simplest starting point is to explain that dentistry in the UK is a ‘mixed economy’ made up of private practices, NHS services and community-based care. The ADG stands for the Association of Dental Groups and is the UK’s only trade association that operates across this full spectrum.
The association’s purpose is to represent members’ views objectively and fairly in oral health debates, to participate in policy development – taking a solutions-focused approach – and to encourage policy makers to make evidence-based decisions.
Influencing stakeholders
The ADG’s purpose is principally to influence stakeholders and policy makers to take actions that will benefit ADG’s member groups and thereby patients’ experiences and oral health outcomes. Daily efforts go into working with government health ministers and MPs.
The ADG’s executive chair meets and briefs as many MPs as possible (across Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems) on the UK dentistry crisis, the complexity of the ‘mixed-economy’ and the significance of the role that the ADG can play. By delivering reports and insights, including white papers and campaign reports, the ADG is able to determine the key challenges facing dentistry and offer solutions to turn the current crisis around.
The Association of Dental Groups (ADG) is a not-for-profit organisation run by an administrative team with oversight from the ADG board. The association has an established place in the dental profession thanks to the insights and expertise of our members.
The need for the work undertaken by the ADG is more critical now than ever before – for two main reasons. Firstly, the current crisis in dentistry in the UK, which affects the dental profession as well as patients, is worsening. And at the same time, the ADG is growing. Today the ADG is bigger than ever with 28 member groups – large, medium and small – who make up the UK’s dental practice groups.
This what the ADG will be focusing this year
- The crisis in dentistry across all four devolved nations which is caused principally by the significant gap in the dental workforce. Currently there are over 3,000+ dentist vacancies, yet there are hundreds of trained dentists in the UK who cannot get registration through the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE)
- The total dental workforce must be shored up. Remember every dentist appointment requires a dental nurse to be present
- The current NHS contract for England should be reformed. It should be made ‘fit for purpose’ by focusing on patient needs and trusting professional judgement.
Coming soon! Look out for our next white paper on dental workforce
Watch this space for our next white paper, which will reveal the shockingly small size of our dental workforce in comparison to the nation’s needs, and how red tape is holding back trained dentists from practising. We will be offering easy-fix solutions that could have a quick and dramatic effect for the turnaround that the profession, and our population so badly need.
For more information about the Association of Dental Groups, visit www.theadg.co.uk.
This article is sponsored by the Association of Dental Groups.
