Developing a Resource Impact Assessment Tool(s) for Dental Training Reform

In May 2017, HEE commissioned the Advancing Dental Care Education & Training Review to consider the skills and composition of the future dental workforce that will best meet future patient need, and the training structures and funding models that will deliver that workforce.

The Review was commissioned in the context of significant improvements in adult oral health in England over recent decades that are projected to continue into the future. Over the same period, pockets of entrenched oral health inequality have remained and the overall profile of the population has been ageing, suggesting the need for a greater emphasis on different treatment modalities and care pathways. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that dentists could be released for more complex work if the dental team (dental care professionals or DCPs) employed their full scope of practice From an education and training perspective, a 10% reduction in dental school places from 2013/14 and the 2015 Comprehensive Spending Review have implications for existing training and commissioning models.

The initial Advancing Dental Care report was published on 16th May 2018, along with 21 recommendations relating to further focused research, stakeholder engagement, options analyses, and the piloting of potential solutions. The recommendations have been endorsed by HEE's Executive Team and the Review is now entering its second year of its three-year programme.

This specification will deliver recommendation B6 of the Advancing Dental Care report:

Commission the development of a resource impact template to allow education & training commissioners to baseline the costs of and income from dental training activities and forecast the impact of implementing recommendations with a view to realising efficiencies for re-investment into priority areas.