QC126 Oral Health Promotion Programme

Nottingham City Council is seeking to appoint an organisation to provide an Oral Health Promotion Service to help improve the oral health of the local population.

Oral health is an important part of general health and wellbeing. Whilst there have been welcome improvements in the oral health of children in England, significant inequalities remain. Many general health conditions and oral diseases share common risk factors such as smoking, alcohol misuse and poor diet. Oral diseases are largely preventable; and there is a need to develop interventions to achieve sustained and long-term improvements in oral health and reduce inequalities The Oral Health Promotion Service will be targeted towards identified individuals, groups and communities to maintain and improve their oral health by:

increased use of fluoride reducing the frequency of sugar consumption effective daily oral hygiene seeking regular dental care smoking cessation

oral cancer awareness

Within the scope of the Oral Health Promotion Programme there is a requirement to deliver and promote:

1. Supervised Tooth Brushing Programme

The provider of the service will provide a supervised tooth brushing programme within nurseries and primary schools (reception and year 1) targeting the most deprived wards within Nottingham City.

2. Oral Health Training

The provider will deliver oral health training for the wider health, social care and education workforce. This will be based on a capacity building approach in order to support oral health improvement in their daily role.

3. Distribution of Oral Health Resources

The provider will deliver a universal provision of tooth brushes and toothpaste at key child development checks undertaken by Health Visitors, in order to encourage parents to adopt good oral health practices and start tooth brushing as soon as first teeth erupt.

4. Campaigns

The provider will work on delivering national campaigns and work in partnership with key stakeholders to deliver on these campaigns for example, but not exclusively, National Smile Month, Mouth Cancer Awareness Month, National No Smoking Day It is proposed that the service is to be commissioned for 3 years subject to budget considerations.

The service will need to be available from 1 April 2015

The annual contract value is 80,000

Duration: 3 years (option to extend for (up to) a further 36 months)