Research

10 • NHS Scotland Links with Knowledge Services

Background

The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) is an initiative of the National Dental Advisory Committee (NDAC) in partnership with NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Its primary aim is to provide user-friendly evidence-based guidance to support dental teams to provide quality dental care for their patients. For each guidance topic, a group of dental professionals works with the SDCEP Programme Development Team to develop the guidance.

Progress

The guidance initiative involves participation from all sectors of dentistry in Scotland, with members of DHSRU playing key roles. Professor Clarkson is Director of SDCEP and sits on the NDAC. Professor Pitts chairs the SDCEP Oral Health Assessment Guidance Development Group, is a member of the SDCEP Steering Committee and sits on the NDAC. Dr Bonetti has contributed to the writing of guidance and advises on guidance implementation.

•    In April 2010, SDCEP published guidance entitled ‘Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children’. This guidance was distributed widely to the dental profession in Scotland and complements the Childsmile Programme.
  
  
• In June 2010, SDCEP launched its online Practice Support Manual (PSM) to provide advice on a range of topics related the organisation and management of a modern dental practice http://www.psm.sdcep.org.uk. Since the launch, new topics have been added with more to follow in 2011. In tandem with this, a PSM-branded folder was sent to all dental practices to aid collation of required regulatory documentation.
  
  
• SDCEP has designed a practice inspection related to the Practice Support Manual, that combines Health Board and NES Vocational Training inspections and elements of the National Standards for Dental Services. Piloting of this inspection began in 2010.
  
  
• ‘Oral Health Management of Patients Prescribed Bisphosphonates’, new guidance. setting out measures to minimise potential side-effects of serious oral health problems was available for consultation in 2010 and is due to be published in spring 2011.
  
  
• ‘Oral Health Assessment and Review’ advises on best practice for dental examinations and personal care planning. A ‘Guidance in Brief’ version of the draft guidance put out for consultation in 2009 has been developed and will be published in spring 2011.
  
  
•    SDCEP also works closely with the TRiaDS programme, an international multidisciplinary collaboration of researchers concerned with evaluating and improving the implementation of SDCEP guidance.
  
  
•   Members of SDCEP staff contribute to several other national dental quality improvement initiatives that are related to SDCEP guidance topics to ensure consistency and to share knowledge gained through SDCEP’s work.

Images below

The SDCEP Practice Support Manual website home page with the cover and double page spread from ‘Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children’.

Impact Statement

This programme of work in collaboration with partners across Scotland, the UK and internationally, is enhancing the understanding of how best to translate evidence into practice.