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The big news in education and in schools at the present time (from my experience from being governor) is to be able to demonstrate your ‘outward facing’.

OFSTED and other educational organisations are fed up of teachers living in their own small bubble, in their own world, not looking outside or gaining experience from other places; and so they are encouraged on their journey towards outstanding, to be able to demonstrate the activities that they’re doing, to see wider a field and to gain experience from other people and other institutions.

Dentistry could learn a lot from education in that regard.

I don’t mean going on a course, I mean knowing what’s happening in the world.

I don’t mean listen to companies telling you what you should buy, and using FOMO as the main lever of purchase, I mean knowing what’s happening in health care, what’s happening politically and socially, a big level of your profession.

Listening to and reading about leaders of the profession, and the guys who are actually doing something, to try change things and make it better, it means that we can all follow a better example, rather than the ones which are “advertised” by the people that want us to buy something.

We have got a long way to go, to get anywhere close to good, as an average to what we provide, and we should start by getting assistance, help and experience from the wider world and beyond our four surgery walls.

It works in my hands “will no longer wash” and so in the search, for outstanding and excellent, we’ll have to narrow our focus in to final areas until we get better at it, not just for the benefit of our patients, but for the benefit of our own mental health.

Blog Post Number - 2024