OCDO PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT
Re: Oral health care provision in residential special educational settings – launch of dental project
The NHS Long Term Plan commits to improving the health care of children, young people and adults with a learning disability, autism or both. The Office of Chief Dental Officer, England, in collaboration with the NHS England and NHS Improvement Learning Disability & Autism programme, has embarked upon a 5-year project (2019-2024) with the intention of delivering upon this commitment. This oral health project forms part of a wider initiative, which includes audiology and optometry, aiming to improve provision of and access to health care for children and young people in residential special schools and colleges.
The oral health project will involve:
- Identifying good practice models and learning from that to
- Develop a commissioning standard for oral health care provision in residential special schools and colleges
- Addressing workforce & training requirements
- Piloting and evaluation
- Producing a toolkit to support local commissioners and enable implementation of the commissioning standard.
The Office of the Chief Dental Officer is delighted to announce that Consultants in Paediatric Dentistry Claire Stevens and Urshla (Oosh) Devalia will be joining the team to provide clinical leadership to the SES project. Between them they bring a wealth of experience. Claire is lead for the national Dental Check by One campaign and media spokesperson for the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD). Oosh has developed and leads the national Mini Mouth Care Matters programme which aims to improve the oral care of children during their hospital stay and is incoming Honorary Secretary of BSPD.
The project team is currently organising membership of the working groups. As the work progresses we will be reaching out to additional interested parties and stakeholders to ask for input and support, which is warmly welcomed.
If you have any questions and and/or queries regarding this project please direct them to the Project Manager, Julija Iricijan, at england.ocdo-ses-project-manager@nhs.net
The Office of Chief Dental Officer