All GDPs practising in any of the PCT areas covered by the Federation of London LDCs are welcome to attend their Local Dental Committee meetings and to have copies of the agendas and minutes.  Please send a message in the "contact us" section.

Jan 2011 All 30 London PCTs now working together in 5 Sector-based clusters. Number of PCT managers working on dentistry is reduced.

Feb 2011 A number of London practices have been accepted into the new contract pilot schemes.

Feb 2011 Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham LDC has "shopped around" for prices and value for clinical waste collection, radiology protection, and medical emergency training. Contact us for details.

Mar 2011 Fiona Erne appointed Assistant Director of Primary Care Contracting (Dental, Pharmacy and Ophthalmic Services) for NW London.  Kelly Nizzer appointed Senior Contracts Manager for Dental Pharmacy and Ophthalmic Services for NW London. Catriona Barber appointed Contracts Manager for Dental Pharmacy and Ophthalmic Services for NW London. All Contacts to the North West London Cluster should be to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Mar 2011 All dentists who have joined a Primary Care Trust list since 2006 should have had an enhanced Criminal Record Bureau check carried out by the PCT when first registered with them. The Care Quality Commission now accepts that this enhanced CRB check will be acceptable for to registration with the CQC.

Mar 2011 New NHS dental charges with effect from 1st April 2011 are Band 1 £17.00 Band 2 £47.00 Band 3 £204.00

Mar 2011 appointments in SE London  from 1st April '11: Director of Primary Care: David Sturgeon; Assistant Director of Primary Care: Rylla Baker;
Head of Dental Contracting and Performance: Miriam West (Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham) and Emma Wallis (Bexley Bromley and Greenwich)

Mar 2011 The Federation published a step by step advice sheet to assist with completion of an Information Governance Toolkit.

Apr 2011 NC London Appointments:  Associate Director of Primary Care: Tony Hoolaghan, Deputy Director: Anne Whateley; Contracts and Performance Manager (Camden): Justin Phillips, Contracts and Performance Manager (Islington): Darshna Rughani; Dental Advisers: Mayur Bhatt and Pritesh Shah.
Contact details: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Perfomer List Queries: Sue Thomas - 0208 238 3743, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Lynn Rodrigues - 0208 238 3824 (Mon-Wed) and 0207 527 1181 (Thur-Fri), email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

May 2011 The Federation Chairman (Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen) and Assistant Secretary met with Chairman of London-wide Local Medical Committees to discuss matters of mutual concern.

June 2011 Meetings regularly taking place with responsible senior management of all of the three London PCT clusters in which Federation is involved.  Notes of these meetings are available to all GDPs in the Federation area.

June 2011 London PCT clusters are looking at ways of containing the cost of hospital referrals.  The Federation is working with PCTs to look at innovative ways of commissioning specialist services in primary care through incentive schemes.

June 2011 Federation Local Dental Committees are working closely together on a Cluster-wide basis, while maintaining the localised committee structure.

July / August 2011 Representatives of the London Regional Group of Local Dental Committees have met with the Pan London Operating Group and NHS London to discuss a London Operating Model, including Year-End processes and contract variation framework.

Sept 2011.   220 dentists attended the IRMER course arranged by the Federation. Many bookings coming in for the Child Protection Level 2 course to take place 15^th November.

Oct 2011 Under activity and over activity on contracts being managed very inflexibly. No over-performance paid for or carried forward without prior agreement. Under-performance above 4% being clawed back aggressively. PCTs wish to find contracts in breach if underperformed >4%. London LDCs challenging this.

Practices which have received additional UDAs on non-recurrent basis are finding these have discontinued, leading to reduction in capacity of 40% in some cases. Federation of London LDCs has supported practices to obtain legal advice to challenge PCTs.

London PCTs are failing to achieve their access targets.

Oct 2011 Initial soundings on new contract pilots include huge amount of time being spent on oral health assessments, restriction on clinical discretion, dumbing down of the profession, deterioration of service for existing loyal patients, software problems, difficulties in managing performer’s contracts.

Funding for a children’s outreach scheme (GDPs paid Guild Rate for visiting schools and children’s centres etc) in Hammersmith and Fulham has been withdrawn.

Oct 2011 Representatives of LDCs throughout London met on 5th October to hear a presentation by Dr Raj Rattan about his experience of working in a new dental contract pilot.  The 45 LDC representatives then discussed a number of London-wide dental issues.

Nov 2011 The Federation has supported a number of dental practices to lodge an appeal against their PCT, where NHS capacity has reduced compared with the previous year due to non-recurring UDAs.

Dec 2011 The Federation has available an advice sheet about the decisions to be made by dentists about their NHS pensions.  This advice sheet is available to dentists in the areas covered by the Federation.  Please contact us if you would like to receive a copy.

Jan 2012 All London PCT clusters are applying for additional funding to enable practices to maintain access to NHS dentistry during the final quarter of the financial year. £30M is available nationally.

Jan 2012 The London Regional Group of LDCs has written to NHS London requesting tolerance of up to 4% over-performance every year, preferably to be paid for, but if not, to be carried forward.

Jan 2012 Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham LDC has conducted a survey of all practices, which concludes that many practices will run short of UDAs before the end of the financial year.

Jan 2012 Several London dental practices have had Care Quality Commission inspections, all at short notice (48 hours or so).  If the practice principal is away the visit take places anyway.

Jan 2012 All Local Dental Committees in the Federation are presently conducting an election of members.  Please contact us for a Nomination Form.

Jan 2012 The Federation has produced an Advice Sheet to assist with the Information Governance Tool-kit (latest version).  All dentists practising in the Federation area are invited to request a copy.

Jan 2012 The Federation's Political co-ordinator, General Secretary and Assistant Secretary have visited the House of Commons to express a number of concerns to M.P.s about issues of concern to London dentists.

Feb 2012 The Federation has written a strong letter to the Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission, stating that 24-48 hours is insufficient notice for CQC inspections, as this is disruptive to patient care.

Feb 2012 The Federation has issued several advice sheets to members about CQC inspections.

Feb 2012 The Federation has expressed dissatisfaction to NHS NW London about the overly complicated application process for the non-recurrent UDAs presently being allocated.

Feb 2012 The Federation is supporting practices which are being requested to make financial refunds relating to activity over several years.

Feb 2012 A meeting has been arranged by London dentists, alongside other health care professionals,  to meet with the Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Andrew Lansley C.B.E. M.P.

Feb 2012 The Federation has written a strong letter to NHS Choices, stating that the "reviews" section is inappropriate, as patients or other persons with ulterior motives could place adverse comments maliciously.

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