Meeting 14th January 2026

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THE HUNTINGDON MARRIOTT HOTEL

PEMBROKE ROOM

WEDNESDAY 14^thJANUARY 2026

7.00 PM

LDC MEETING

MINUTES

1. Attendees:

Patrik Zachrisson LDC Chairman & Treasurer

Mariana De Villiers LDC Administrator

Amiras Chokshi LDC Secretary

Marlise De Vos

Prashant Patel

Jessica Wyatt

Curt McKenzie

Bharpur Sanghera

Peter Mullins

Claire Jackman

Ricky Worraker

Hamza Zaman

Marylene Cotta

Julia Hallam-Seagrave

Esther Hagan-Brown

Zelda Putter

2. Guests:

Mr Prem Nair Specialist Oral Surgeon, East Anglia,

Chair, MCN

3. Apologies:

Francis Scriven

4. Chairman - Patrik Zachrisson:

Patrik welcomed and Introduced Mr Prem Nair, Specialist Oral Surgeon, to the LDC Meeting.

Mr Prem Nair:

Mr Prem Nair discussed Minor Oral Surgery in general as well as current Oral Surgery Referral Guidelines. This included Urgent Referrals and all other Oral Surgical Referrals.

He explained Oral Surgery Procedures provided at the Level 2 Oral Surgery Service, Patients that should not be referred to Level 2 Oral Surgery service and Maxillofacial Surgical Treatments provided at Level 3 Services in Hospitals. Guidelines are attached.

Mr Nair also discussed the use of Biologics in the treatment of oral cancer. Biologics are increasingly used in the management of oral cancer. Biologics are drugs made by living organisms and the term is usually limited to monoclonal antibodies or receptors targeting specific cytokines or cells. Biologics are not as invasive as chemo therapy. It has a targeted approach, lower toxicity to healthy tissues, and the ability to produce long-lasting responses.

Failing Implants in compromised patients at risk of infection, would be assessed and if the health of the patient is at risk, will be removed and not replaced. This can be very complicated.

Chairman’s and Treasurer’s Annual Report:

Unscheduled Dental Care Incentive (UDCI) Activity Scheme:

NHS England has extended the sign-up deadline for participants to the UDCI Activity scheme.

Activity Period means the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 during which all Unscheduled Care activity is counted towards the achievement of the Total Activity Target (where the course of treatment is commenced on or after 1 April 2025 and completed on or before 31 March 2026 and submitted by year-end close).

Additional Activity Target means the number of additional Urgent Courses of Treatment to be delivered by Providers participating in the Scheme. This is equivalent to 25% of the annualised Baseline Activity, rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Baseline Activity means the number of Urgent Courses of Treatment projected under an eligible contract to be commenced on or after 1 April 2025 and completed on or before 31 March 2026. For contracts that started after 1 April 2025 this means the number of Urgent Courses of Treatment projected to be commenced on or after the contract start date and completed on or before 31 March 2026.

Baseline Period means the period between 1 April 2025 and 31 July 2025, activity from which the Baseline Activity is calculated and includes activity commenced on or after 1 April 2025 and completed on or before 31 July 2025 and submitted before 8 September 2025.

Calculation of Additional Activity and Total Activity Targets:

The Additional Activity Target for each Dental Provider is 25% of the Dental Provider’s annualised Baseline Activity (rounded up to the nearest whole number). The sum of the required Additional Activity Target and Baseline Activity will give the Dental Provider’s Total Activity Target as follows:

Total Activity Target = Dental Provider’s Baseline Activity + Additional Activity Target

Incentive payment

Where a Dental Provider achieves the Total Activity Target, then they will be due the Incentive Payment. The Incentive Payment will be calculated as the Additional Activity Target multiplied by £50 as follows:

Incentive Payment = Additional Activity Target x £50

The Expanded Combined Chairman’s and Treasurer’s Report of the LDC is attached.

5. Secretary’s Report: Amiras Chokshi:

Contract reform update:

The government’s ambition remains to fundamentally reform the dental contract. Proposals to address some of the real and pressing issues that dentists and dental teams are experiencing were developed. While these changes are an important step forward, the work to reform dentistry does not stop with the proposals following consultation period.

The proposals are:

· Mandate a proportion of contract capacity to be directed to Unscheduled Care, supported by new payment arrangements and in line with a national service specification and new patients:

To ensure that these additional unscheduled care appointments become part of routine NHS provision, NHS contract holders to deliver a set amount of unscheduled care each year. Access for these patients through NHS 111 direct booking or patient to contact a practice directly.

The current payment for unscheduled care (worth 1.2 UDAs regardless of the treatment involved) may incentivise dentists to alleviate patients’ symptoms (such as with painkillers or antibiotics) rather than offering definitive treatment to resolve the patient’s presenting issues.

To address this, contractors will receive a nationally set payment of £70 for every urgent course of treatment delivered. Additionally, they will receive £5 for every urgent course of treatment that is mandated, regardless of whether a patient attends their appointment.

· create new long-term and planned pathways with improved payments to support care and treatment for patients with significant dental decay and/or significant gum disease

3 new care pathways for patients with significant dental decay and/or significant gum disease.

Summary of proposed complex care pathways and payments

Care pathway	Patient eligibility	Time period	Proposed payment received by dentists (see note)
1	Patients with at least 5 teeth with caries into dentine	Usually around 6 months of treatment, subject to clinical discretion based on individual patient need	£272 (+/-10 UDA’s) If these patients require laboratory produced restorations such as crowns or bridges, the £272 may be supplemented with a band 3 course of treatment to provide this aspect of their care. This band 3 claim can be made concurrently or sequentially to the care pathway based on when the laboratory produced restoration is required.
2	Patients with at least 5 teeth with caries into dentine and currently unstable periodontal disease	Usually up to 12 months of treatment, subject to clinical discretion based on individual patient need	£680 (+/- 20 UDA’s) If these patients require laboratory produced restorations such as crowns or bridges, the £680 may be supplemented with a band 3 course of treatment to provide this aspect of their care. This band 3 claim can be made concurrently or sequentially to the care pathway based on when the laboratory produced restoration is required.
3	Patients with a new diagnosis of grade C periodontal disease. This will include additional requirements to focus explicitly on patient behavioural change support in addition to professional plaque removal	Usually around 6 months of treatment, subject to clinical discretion based on individual patient need	£ 238

· Note: payments will be converted to UDAs for the purposes of reconciliation.

· Skill mix and evidence-based clinical interventions;

Practices encouraged to make better use of the skills of a range of professionals. This also frees up dentists’ time to undertake more complex work. An example is for Dental Nurses to have an oral health clinic with patients if advised or Fluoride varnish application on children.

· create a new course of treatment for the application of fluoride varnish on children, without a full dental check-up and which can be applied by extended duty dental nurses (EDDNs) between full check-ups

This new course of treatment will be paid at 0.5 UDAs and will allow EDDNs to contribute to the care of children between regular examinations.

This new course of treatment will not be able to be claimed alongside any other course of treatment. Where a patient is examined by a dentist and fluoride varnish is clinically indicated and administered, this would be included within the course of treatment being claimed.

Expected appointments for children receiving fluoride varnish treatments

Appointments	Clinically higher-risk	Clinically lower-risk
Month 1	Check-up and application of fluoride varnish - 1 UDA	Check-up and application of fluoride varnish - 1 UDA
Month 3	Application of fluoride varnish (no check-up) - 0.5 UDAs	Not applicable
Month 6	Check-up and application of fluoride varnish - 1 UDA	Application of fluoride varnish (no check-up) - 0.5 UDAs
Month 9	Application of fluoride varnish (no check-up) - 0.5 UDAs	Not applicable
Month 13	Check-up and application of fluoride varnish - 1 UDA	Check-up and application of fluoride varnish - 1 UDA

· incentivise greater use of resin-based fissure sealants in children’s permanent molar teeth by re-banding the treatment from band 1 to band 2

· introduce a new band 2 sub-band for denture modifications, relining and repairs. This could be claimed in addition to a current band 2 course of treatment

· options to support reducing clinically unnecessary check-ups. Routine 6-monthly check-ups have to be justified.

· introduce funded quality-improvement activities, including structured audit and peer review for practices. These structured audits and peer reviews will focus on a set of nationally determined topics. Practices to receive funding between £2 000.00 - £3 000.00 per year to undertake and complete the activities for each year’s quality improvement topic.

· provide practices with funding for annual appraisals for associate dentists, dental therapists and dental hygienists who provide clinical NHS care, at the rate of 6 UDAs per eligible individual.

The proposals were largely accepted and the expectation is that the proposals can be implemented from 1^st April 2026. However, IT companies might not be ready to implement the changes in this very short period.

It is also clear that NO extra money will be available to fund these changes. This must come from current budget. The budget for NHS Dentistry is not fully utilised due to practices giving back their NHS Contracts, therefore money should be available within the budget to fund these changes. This is not a replacement contract just implementation of some approvals.

6. Julia Hallam-Seagrave: Head of Dental Service/Specialist in Special Care Dentistry:

Demand for special care dentistry is high in all disciplines. Demand for Unscheduled urgent care appears to be a little less. Patients indirectly booked through 111 service is problematic as the need of care cannot be determined. Special care waiting time is around 20 weeks from referral to assessment.

The aim is to provide extra general anaesthetic sessions to reduce waiting times however staffing additional sessions is a currently challenge.

Waiting times in Wisbech is shorter than in Peterborough but patients are not prepared to travel to another centre.

Deterioration of oral health is quite noticeable across the board.

7. Other Business:

The LDC has agreed to continue support of 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.

All current LDC members were re-elected to serve for another year.

8. Next Meeting:

6^th MAY 2026