An unplanned apendix to my previous blog about the Oral Surgery Pathway Course.
It was not my intention to go on further about this but, firstly it would be worth saying that this post has attracted the most attention for a blog post about courses that I have ever had. At the time of writing we have had approximately half a dozen people contact me directly asking for information about the next Oral Surgery Pathway Course which is quite unprecedented from a single post.
It would be worth however, clarifying a few points regarding the Oral Surgery Pathway Course and in particular, the funding of the course itself. One or two comments were made around the "opportunistic" nature of the course and how this might feed into a new dental contract. A few points worth making on that score:
1. I have no idea what is happening in NHS general dentistry or any plans for a new contract.
2. Any ventures related to work, apart from out and out altruistic corporate social responsibility ventures are "opportunistic". Setting up a dental practice in the hope that people with bad teeth will attend for treatment is in itself "opportunistic"
3. The Oral Surgery Pathway Course as designed and executed (mostly) by Jason Wong and Colin Campbell was in large part funded by the Post-graduate Deanery. What this means is that speakers are paid on the Section 63 (if its still called that) format which leads to a speaker payment for a full day lecture of approximately £400. If the speaker can demonstrate that they are an NHS Practitioner with their own practice then they are entitled to LOPA (loss of practice allowance) which puts the fee up to just short of £800 for a full day. That is what I was paid for the speaker sessions that I undertook. The academics who attended the session would not have been paid LOPA, therefore leading to a payment of approximately £400. For my own part, I was paid approximately £796 for the lecture day (of half day equivalent) plus approximately £22 for travel expenses and no subsidence expenses. Take into consideration that the cost per surgery per day in my practice runs at approximately £600, therefore to be out of practice I leave a surgery running at £600 in costs which is unattended. That would mean that my lecture fee equates to approximately £196 for the day and I can assure you that it takes a considerable period of time to prepare an all day Oral Surgery lecture. Preparation time not paid! The further elements of the course included a Hands On Oral Surgery session on pigs heads at Kings Mill Surgical Skills Centre again, paid under Section 63 rules. The final part of the course involved delegates attending practices with Oral Surgery contracts to gain practical experience over 4 days. The deanery would not fund this, therefore the cost recovery for this came from the delegates themselves with each delegate paying £250 per day for 4 days. On those days the delegates were able to carry out hands on Oral Surgery or supervise their fellows carrying out hands on Oral Surgery under supervision and at our practice there are 3 clinical supervisors per day. The productivity of the practice is considerably reduced on these days and less Oral Surgery cases are managed. The money raised by the delegates is used to pay additional fees to the clinical supervisors who are taking greater responsibility (although these fees are very small) together with some reimbursement to the practice for the loss of productivity. It is not a huge money maker, if a money make at all.
The Oral Surgery Pathway Course this year was set up as a pilot both for the organisers (Jason and I) and for the Deanery. It is yet to be decided whether this course will run again with Deanery funding and if it does not then it will be necessary for us to set it up as a commercial venture.
It is also worth adding a foot note that it is staggering to think that people were commenting as to whether the course was worthwhile for General Dental Practitioners to attend (basically financially). The general lack of Oral Surgery ability among the General Dental Practitioner population is terrifying and even the simplest of extraction techniques seem to either never have been learned or forgotten. Practitioners seem happy to shell out huge sums of money on implant courses, 6-month smile courses, veneer courses and other such with out the very basic skills of Oral Surgery having been attained. I am lucky (or unlucky) enough not to be involved in General Dental Practice anymore but if I was to return to General Dental Practice now I would make it my business to train myself well in the basics, as I would feel that that was part of my duty. I would not select courses merely on their potential financial return to me in the practice although I do understand that it is necessary to do that in part.
From where I sit, taking referrals from 900 GDPs, it seems that there is a significant part of the population who would benefit from an Oral Surgery Pathway Course which is actually why Jason and I have set this up on the altruistic basis we have.
Genuinely delighted with the debate involved in this but sincerely feel that our side of the story should be presented well and not seen as some sort of opportunistic venture, taking advantage of a political imperative.
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