Meeting 14th May 2025
THE HUNTINGDON MARRIOTT HOTEL
WESTMINSTER ROOM
WEDNESDAY 14th MAY 2025
7.30 START
MINUTES
1. Attendees:
Patrik Zachrisson LDC Chairman & Treasurer
Mariana De Villiers LDC Administrator
Amiras Chokshi LDC Secretary
Julia Hallam-Seagrave Head of Dental Service/Specialist in Special Care Dentistry
Marlise De Vos
Prashant Patel
Jessica Wyatt
Curt McKenzie
Bharpur Sanghera
Peter Mullins
2. Guest:
Hamza Zaman
Zelda Wiese
Marylene Cotta
Hamid Hindawi
3. Apologies:
Abigail Bridson
Francis Scriven
Claire Jackman
Kaushal Patel
Ricky Worraker
4. Chairman’s/Treasurer’s Report: Patrik Zachrisson
Treasurer’s Report:
The LDC are still collecting £10.00 per month per performer and remains in a stable and secure financial position.
The LDC still supports the dental community by making contributions to:
- Benevolent Fund, which provides essential support to dental professionals in need.
- BDA Events, which facilitates professional development and networking opportunities for local dentists and British Dental Guild.
- Reimbursement Scheme for local NHS dental practices covering:
Nurses’ training, Hepatitis B vaccinations, Needlestick injuries, Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks and First Aid training.
Chairman’s Report:
Recruitment of Dentists remains a concern as dental practices are still finding it difficult to recruit. It was noted that some employment agencies would ask between £4 000.00 and £8 000.00 to place an associate dentist.
The Government promised 700 000 more urgent appointments nationally. This equates to about 14 000 appointments in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area. This has not been finalised yet. It is not clear how this will be implemented.
The management consultancy company IQVIA has been approached to investigate NHS dentistry and how to improve the service. IQVIA looked at the financial aspects of 15 dental practices and concluded that NHS treatment is highly subsidised by private work and an uplift of at least 30% in NHS fees would be required to break even. A UDA (unit of dental activity) value of minimum £35.00 is suggested. IQVIA would like to pilot with practices but this has not been finalised yet.
It was noted that ICBs (Integrated Care Boards) from other areas were looking at supporting specific services like care home programmes and toothbrushing as examples whereas our ICB has chosen to support IQVIA.
It was reported that UDA underperforming Dental Practices have been contacted for clawback of money at short notice.
5. Secretary’s Report: Amiras Chokshi
Amiras attended the General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC) virtual meeting on Friday, 2nd of May 2025.
The minister of state for care Stephen Kinnock, spoke at the recent BDIA Dental Showcase in London 14th od March 2025 and commented that the state of NHS dentistry was Dickensian and said that the contract was ‘mad’. He acknowledged the need for contract reform, adding that the government wants to work with the dental profession for the ‘best possible outcomes’.
The BDA commented that tweaking the contract was insufficient and fundamental change was needed. The challenging impact of increases to National Insurance Contributions and the Minimum Wage on practice finances was mentioned. The financial environment remains challenging and the Spending Review, to be announced in June, will be critical to determining the funding available to reform the contract. Short term tweaks to the dental contract with changes to the Banding system are not enough. Long term reform is required. Dentists need to feel “proud” to be working on an NHS contract.
6. Julia Hallam-Seagrave: Head of Dental Service/Specialist in Special Care Dentistry
The Dental Access Centre in Peterbrough has successfully recruited a clinicain.
Demand for special care dentistry is high in all disciplines. The referral rate for Special Care Services remains the same. Referral waiting times have reduced. The average waiting time is now around 18 weeks.
Care home patients requiring special care continued to be seen at the care home. More patients would like to be seen at the care home but this is not always possible.
7. Next Meeting
3rd September 2025
