Orthodontic Practice Committee
Since the last AGM, 3 meetings of OPC have taken place, in Nov 2009 and March 2010 and July 2010. A lunch meeting is planned at BOC 2010 with the final meeting of the year in Nov 2010. Over the last 12 months meetings have generally been dovetailed with OSG committee meetings.
The current major concern surrounds the lack of guidance given by the DoH to PCT’s in respect of guidance in relation to renegotiation of PDS contracts in 2011 when the first 5-year PDS period comes to an end. With this in mind, a tele-conference was held on 30th March between members of OPC and Sue Gregory, Deputy CDO and Natasha Dogmetchi of PCC. The meeting was very productive, the outcome of which was that PCC would produce some draft guidance to help address these issues, which would then be run by BOS. Unfortunately, the change in government introduced a delay in matters. To complicate matters further, a number of PCT’s started to adopt an approach by which they intended to re-tender all contracts based on their understanding of the legal interpretation of EU procurement guidance. Subsequently a meeting was held between delegates from BOS and Sue Gregory together with senior members of the DoH and PCC. The major issues in relation to the end of the first PDS period were discussed and the outcome was that PCC/DoH would now put together some guidance to help PCT’s and providers to deal with the issues faced net year and allow PCT’s to negotiate with existing providers whilst complying with EU requirements. It is hoped that such guidance, at least in a provisional form will be available for the political session/ PCT day at BOC.
A meeting was recently held between the same delegation from OPC/BOS and senior members of the GDPC Executive and administrative team. Once again this was a very productive meeting and the link between the two groups promises to be a useful one.
OPC are now represented at the GDPC by Colin Wallis and Harneet Mangat and on the Key Stakeholders Group by Richard Jones. We continue to enjoy a good working relationship with the BSA and liaise regularly on matters of mutual interest. A meeting has been set up at BOC. Regular updates on salient issues have been sent out to BOS members via BOS news. In addition additional updates have been circulated concerning the recent White paper and its implications as well as a brief update on events surrounding the end of the first PDS period next year.
To maintain momentum and continue the valuable work of helping educate PCT’s as well as sharing good practice, we will be repeating the PCT Education day in Brighton on Wednesday September 22nd. Although the day is primarily aimed at any individuals or organisations throughout the UK who are directly or indirectly involved in commissioning NHS orthodontic services, this year we are extending the day to providers in primary and secondary care, many of whom would benefit from the information being shared. As previously, we very much want this day to be inclusive as possible and with that in mind we are delighted that presentations will be given by representatives from various bodies including the DoH/PCC, PCT's/SHA’s, the BSA as well as the British Orthodontic Society.
The topics to be covered include such subjects as Renegotiation of PDS contracts for orthodontics, Procurement and Tendering of orthodontic services, Quality assurance, contract monitoring (including the Vital Signs reports), Referral Management and PDS misconceptions.
Richard Jones,
Chairman, Orthodontic Practice Committee Sep 1st 2010
