Re-commissioning of Special Care Adult and Paediatric Dental Services

NHS England South East is currently in the planning stages of re-commissioning of Special Care Adult and Paediatric Dentistry services, often known as Community Dental Services, as the current contracts to provide these services in the South East are due to come to an end on 31st March 2021.

As part of this process they are gaining feedback on the services currently provided, to assess if this is the best way of providing them, or if they could be delivered in a different way which would be better for patients. They are developing a service specification for the new contracts and will be considering feedback from the profession, stakeholders, patients and the public when doing this.

About the services

Special Care Adult and Paediatric Dental Services (often known as Community Dental Services) include a wide range of services provided for both children and adults unable to attend general dental services due to additional needs, for example, those relating to physical or learning disabilities, or where they have a need for enhanced support to receive treatment.

Services are provided to patient groups with a variety of needs, some of the key groups are: adults and children with learning disabilities; those with physical or sensory disabilities; with complex medical problems: where patients need dentistry in their homes; where patients need general anaesthetic or sedation; obese adults requiring a bariatric chair for treatment and children in the care of social services or with complex social problems.

Feedback

The survey can be found at https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/7ec7eda0/

If anyone would like to give their feedback in a different way – for example, by phone or as a written copy please let them know.

The survey is open until 29 July 2019.