NHS Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire’s first 8am – 8pm, 365 days a year dental practice opened on 1 October 2009. Four further centres are to be opened this year.
We aim to provide not just urgent care for people who see a dentist only when they are in pain, but also encourage uptake of routine and regular preventative care and treatment.
With only 50% of our population having seen a dentist within the last two years, we carried out market analysis and patient surveys to find out more. Results showed gaps in access, responsiveness and funding variations as well as poor levels of patient choice. We needed to make better use of customer information to manage our providers and ensure patients could access the services they need.
With the new 8am – 8pm practices in mind, we developed a GDS time-limited contract which encourages innovation and allows us to measure quality. The quality element represents 20% of the contract value, payable only if the indicators are met.
We also developed a Dental Balanced Scorecard to measure the quality of all our providers on:
· Effectiveness and use of resources
· Quality
· Access and patient experience.
Through the balanced scorecard we have seen the number of providers credited with an A grade increase from 19 to 28; the number of C grade practices has reduced from 15 to 10. The scorecard has been adopted across all practices in the East Midlands region allowing greater benchmarking.
We commissioned a new model which would attract hard to engage groups, incentivise dentists to accept high needs patients, promote oral health, provide leadership to local practices and evidence value for money.
Contact Details:Diane Fenton, Head of Dentistry and Optometry on 01604 651227 or Diane.Fenton@northants.nhs.uk
