Whittington Children’s Dental Service wins two national awards!
04 Apr 2023
A joint Whittington Health and UCLH children’s dental service has won both the ‘Small Scale, Big Impact’ award at the national Smarter Working Live awards, and the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) ‘Outstanding Innovation Award for 2023‘.
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A joint Whittington Health and UCLH children’s dental service has won both the ‘Small Scale, Big Impact’ award at the national Smarter Working Live awards, and the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD) ‘Outstanding Innovation Award for 2023‘. The service won for its work supporting dentists to provide more dental treatment locally, thereby reducing waiting times and trips to hospital for patients.
Known as the Paediatric Dentistry Advice Clinic (PDAC), the service improves the skills of community dentists in assessing and managing children with complex needs, increasing access for those needing specialist advice without waiting for a hospital appointment. The PDAC is a virtual clinic serving patients in North Central and North West London covering 10 boroughs.
Analysis of the pilot project showed that for many patients at the virtual clinic, the recommendation was for them to receive treatment in a community dental setting. Just eight per cent of patients needed to be seen in a hospital setting, with the rest treated or monitored locally. The clinics are focused and efficient seeing 10 patients an hour.
Whittington Health Clinical Director of Dental Services Andrew Read said, “This award-wining virtual advice clinic provides quicker access to specialist advice whilst ensuring continuity of care closer to home. In this era of unprecedented levels of patient demand and rising inequality we must always be looking for opportunities to innovate and change how we do things”.
Paediatric Dentistry Specialist Armaana Ahmad added that “Our PDACs are not only beneficial to patients whose cases can be reviewed quickly - but the virtual clinics are good for learning too. The team discussions mean that each dental professional is benefiting from the insights of others’ cases. Feedback from dental colleagues has been that the PDAC system has completely changed their services and made their clinical work more satisfying. “
Congratulations to Andrew, Arnaana, and everyone involved in the project on your momentous wins at a national level!
Known as the Paediatric Dentistry Advice Clinic (PDAC), the service improves the skills of community dentists in assessing and managing children with complex needs, increasing access for those needing specialist advice without waiting for a hospital appointment. The PDAC is a virtual clinic serving patients in North Central and North West London covering 10 boroughs.
Analysis of the pilot project showed that for many patients at the virtual clinic, the recommendation was for them to receive treatment in a community dental setting. Just eight per cent of patients needed to be seen in a hospital setting, with the rest treated or monitored locally. The clinics are focused and efficient seeing 10 patients an hour.
Whittington Health Clinical Director of Dental Services Andrew Read said, “This award-wining virtual advice clinic provides quicker access to specialist advice whilst ensuring continuity of care closer to home. In this era of unprecedented levels of patient demand and rising inequality we must always be looking for opportunities to innovate and change how we do things”.
Paediatric Dentistry Specialist Armaana Ahmad added that “Our PDACs are not only beneficial to patients whose cases can be reviewed quickly - but the virtual clinics are good for learning too. The team discussions mean that each dental professional is benefiting from the insights of others’ cases. Feedback from dental colleagues has been that the PDAC system has completely changed their services and made their clinical work more satisfying. “
Congratulations to Andrew, Arnaana, and everyone involved in the project on your momentous wins at a national level!