Lara

[Liam Thorp @LiamThorpECHO]

There was some big news this week which should have been top of the news agenda - the fact that it wasn’t and the story that dominated the public space instead tells a worrying story about the priorities of many in this country 🧵

[Lauren Harrhy BDS PGDip @Laurenharrhy85]

NHS dentists have had even more real term reductions to their pay.

Why is it acceptable to pay our most qualified healthcare professionals (doctors and dentists) so poorly in comparison with our colleagues from similar nations or even in comparison to the way we were paid 10 years ago?”

Two years ago at LDC conference we heard that NHS associates (dentists who work for a practice) have seen a 34% reduction in pay compared to 10 years before

NHS practice owners (dentists who own the practice, see the patients, manage the staff, take all the risk of owning a small business etc) saw a 49% reduction in pay in the same period and the trend continues downwards.

Now ask yourself if you would continue in a very stressful, responsible, all consuming profession. One where you are told at least 10 times a day by patients “I hate the dentist”, under immensely heavy regulation (best part is that you have to pay a LOT to be regulated!), under constant threat or being sued &/or struck off. Coming home every day with your back, neck, fingers, wrists and shoulder aching and burning, eyesight strained and hearing ruined. Many of us are forced to retire early due to these health issues.

Would you continue in these circumstances for HALF of what you were earning 10 years ago?

Why should the rest of our teams (dental nurses, receptionists etc) work twice as hard for minimum wage or just above? Their job is very responsible too, dental nurses have a couple of years of training and a bunch of tricky exams and coursework to gain their qualifications. Practice owners want to be able to pay their teams what they are worth but often simply can’t make the figures work.

When we work outside of the NHS we can charge what we need to be able to pay the bills and remain solvent.

When performing NHS work we are on a fixed budget with an ever growing workload and the price of wages, utilities and materials going up sharply. “The math isn’t mathing” When the “math doesn’t math” for a small business then something either has to change rapidly or it is forced to shut down. For example; a typical 3 surgery dental practice will cost £25-45K, per month to run, without paying for a dentist/therapist/hygienist.

Our equipment costs a lot, it costs huge amounts to maintain and service (that chair you lie in while we do your teeth costs anywhere from £15-40k to buy and that’s the very tip of the iceberg!). We don’t get any extra to maintain the building or equipment or purchase materials. Often a practice HAS to offer private work to make ends meet, subsidise the NHS contract. Strangulation of funding and pressure to make ridiculous targets means a downward spiral for those doing NHS dentistry.

We await a “recovery plan” for NHS dentistry. I’ve stopped holding my breath, we were promised it last year and still not a peep!

Meanwhile practices are under threat of financial ruin, dentists leave the country or leave the profession, and patients are becoming sicker because no government has the balls to admit what we all know…..

@TheBDA @TheBMA

[Edwin Hayward @edwinhayward]

"Renault and Aston Martin backer Geely to launch UK firm injecting £6bn and creating 19,000 jobs"

Gosh, doesn't that sound great? Tory MPs and the RW press have been feasting on the story.

Pity it's not true.

Let's take this step by step...

1/12
https://t.co/4buUTGORjx

[Darren Jones MP @darrenpjones]

If you can’t get the best out of your team without being aggressive, intimidating and a bully, then you aren’t capable of leading or managing anyone. Why do so many people find it hard to understand this?

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

There is NO evidence for this claim made by a GMC-registered doctor who uses his vast online reach to spread anti-vax disinformation.

Your failure to intervene, @gmcuk, is making a mockery of your role as my profession’s regulator.

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

Matt Hancock feels betrayed???

He chose a life of C-list celebrity above public service.

He insulted grieving Covid families by cavorting in the jungle.

He smeared care workers, doctors, cabinet colleagues & scientists in that book.

He’s a disgrace.

https://t.co/aiRRytRp8F

[Dr Rachel Clarke @doctor_oxford]

Are women's reproductive rights safe in the UK?

Maria Caulfield voted against legalising abortion in Northern Ireland. She supports cutting the abortion time limit. She belonged to a parliamentary pro-life group.

Sunak just made her Minister for Women.
https://t.co/ZAwVL3XqCg

[Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu @SholaMos1]

I’ll call every unjustified killing by the Police MURDER because that’s what it is.

It’s not the Met Police job to be Judge, Jury & Executioner!

How many more Black people MUST DIE NEEDLESSLY?

They know how to arrest White people ALIVE! #ChrisKaba
https://t.co/lkM0TivZlt

[Frances Ryan @DrFrancesRyan]

They didn’t resign over Covid deaths.
They didn’t resign over benefit cuts.
They didn’t resign over Partygate.
They didn’t resign over PPE.
They didn’t resign over Brexit failure.
They didn’t resign over deporting refugees.

Spare us the praise for the ‘good’ Tories.

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

It hasn’t sunk in yet but…SOME NEWS.

I am so profoundly grateful & relieved.

Thank you to the judge, my stellar legal team & the 29,000 people who contributed to my legal defence fund. I literally couldn’t have done it without you 🙏🙏🙏

https://t.co/Zj0TzN9W6x

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

Superb @Siobhain_Mc …. Someone in real world v @RishiSunak No match

[Jessica Simor KC @JMPSimor]

I saw this yesterday but not the context; a question about why a 15 year old girl alone on the continent but with relatives in the UK was being refused entry.

Gove had prepared this little bit of am dram theatre. It was bad - very bad - but in context it is much much worse.

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@Seos1169 @SmallBigWord @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart Did you write to your MP after your temper tantrum at the receptionist?

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@SmallBigWord @Seos1169 @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart Of course it is awful that we can’t always help patients. However, it is not our fault and being abusive towards the wrong people is certainly not the answer. And to suggest that you should be ok with being abused because people ‘lose their temper’, is not acceptable.

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@Seos1169 @SmallBigWord @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart Not holier than thou, just think it speaks volumes about a person if they are abusive when they lose their temper. And unfortunately you’re not a minority. Did you ring back and apologise?

[Caitlin Moran @caitlinmoran]

Did you have to cancel holidays/trips during lockdown? Did you get a credit-note at Airb'n'b? I did - and I've just used it "renting" houses in Ukraine, in order to get funds to people who really need it. Thought I'd share my Friday idea incase it's useful for you x

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@Seos1169 @SmallBigWord @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart Don’t tell me why I left nhs dentistry. I left because it was financially more viable for me to stay at home & be with my kids coupled with the constant abuse from people like yourself ‘I was frustrated’. why would I want to work in that system?

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@Seos1169 @SmallBigWord @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart Good for you. Glad you’ve managed to explain why it is ok for you to abuse strangers.

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@Seos1169 @SmallBigWord @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart I have read what you said. You told a stranger to ‘fuck off’. They had done absolutely nothing to deserve this. And sadly, based on my own experience, you won’t have been the only one that day. You want to know why dentists are leaving the nhs? This kind of behaviour.

[Lara @laras_theme31]

@Seos1169 @SmallBigWord @Lashesxx @fawcett_stuart Am I what? There is never any need to shout abuse down the phone at a stranger. You clearly have no idea how absolutely demoralising it is to be abused when you’re working. I hope you rang back and apologised.