Agenda item

The Chairman invited the following officers and representatives to the table:

·         KirpalDhadda, Chief Executive Officer, Homestart Barnet

·         Selina Rodrigues, Head of Strategic Development, CommUNITY Barnet

·         Lisa Robbins, Manager, Healthwatch Barnet

·         Dr Jeff Lake, Public Health Consultant, Barnet and Harrow Public Health Team

·         Councillor Helena Hart, Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Barnet

Ms Rodrigues explained that Homestart Barnet had been commissioned to collate information from families on their experiences of dental services in the Borough. She said questionnaires were sent to families and a focus group in Grahame Park as well as advertised on social media. In total there were 56 respondents.

Ms Rodrigues said the results of the survey showed a strong correlation between the experiences of parents with those of their children towards dental health. She said most dental practises had been described as child friendly and welcoming but some parents had expressed this was not the case. Ms Rodrigues stated some parents had experienced difficulties in booking appointments and in finding an NHS surgery within walking distance from their home.

Ms Rodrigues said that further work needed to be done in order to capture more detailed responses. However, results suggested parents’ perceptions of access to some services, e.g. braces, is complicated and not consistent across practices. She said that some parents had complained that there was inadequate space in some practices for buggies. Ms Rodrigues informed the Committee that the research also suggested new immigrants and transient families did not view dental care as a priority. She said the report highlighted the need to raise awareness of good diet, increase the availability of local services for families and make services more accessible and affordable.

Councillor Hart reminded the Committee that previously they had been informed that price lists were not being displayed in waiting rooms, which is a CQC requirement. Councillor Hart said letters should have been sent out to surgeries about this issue. She also commented that she felt the survey should have made it clearer which questions and answers referred to adults and which to children, as children receive free NHS dental treatment. She noted that half of the respondents were from Black and Ethnic Minority groups and there may be a perception among these individuals that children also have to pay for dental care. Councillor Hart said more communication confirming that children receive free treatment is needed.

Ms Kirpal stated that difficulties in accessing treatment locally were identified as one of the biggest issues. Councillor Moore said that there was an opportunity to raise awareness during health care visits and via other health checks in order to improve the engagement of parents with dental services. Ms Kirpal agreed that the earlier the information is received by parents the better and that encouragement very early on even at the peri-natal stage was a good idea. Councillor Duchinsky said information should be distributed into GP surgeries.

Councillor Hart stressed prevention is better than cure and this is why getting information out to parents as early as possible is vital. She said that NHS practitioners do not have to accept children and often choose not to, as treatment times are longer. 

Dr Lake said that attention is given to oral health at early years’ reviews and that through the Making Every Contact Count programme staff should recognise and identify any dental issues. Councillor Rawlings agreed that the role of health professionals in promoting dental health was important as new mothers might be more inclined to take notice of health visitors rather than posters. Ms Robbins said that NHS England had done some promotional events and had set up stalls in shopping centres to reach out to the public across all age groups.

The Chairman noted that the results of the survey were a small snap shot of the 400,000 families living in Barnet. She questioned whether this could potentially skew the results as 56 families could hardly be an accurate representation of the views of the majority of Barnet families. Ms Rodrigues said that although the results might not be statistically valid, the points that were raised were beneficial. Dr Lake agreed that the issues had been thoroughly explored and that data from Public Health research supported the findings with 68% of 5 year old children not accessing dental care.

Councillor Moore suggested that responses from dental communities and providers should be collated. Councillor Hart asked Dr Lake for a future update from Public Health on dental health.

RESOLVED – The Committee noted the report.