Practice Politics....

Tensions were high in the Practice this lunchtime. We've one member of staff who has been working 6 to 6 and a half days a week. Now although she's asked for the extra hours it has inevitably made her more tired and I think irritable. Anyway whereas we usually have a very good working relationship it came to a head today as she threatened to throw away a bouquet of flowers we'd been given as they gave her hay fever... I'm going to have to bring her hours back down to a more reasonable level irrespective of how much she wants the extra income..

RIP NHS?

Received some unsettling news about the NHS locally today. Apparently rather than recommissioning NHS provision when a dentist leaves the NHS the PCT has been keeping the money to pay off the losses in what is called the 'patient charge revenue' throughout Cornwall. While this will help the PCT in the short term, in the longer term this funding will end up being permanently lost to Cornwall. In our case despite taking on an extra dentist we've been informed that we've been failing to reach our targets (the letter helpfully informs us that 70 percent of local dentists are also failing to reach their targets). Our argument has always been that as these targets were simply guessed at rather than being worked out according to the government formula they were wrong from the beginning.. It is all really worrying and in particular its bad for those genuinely poor patients and their dependants who will be absolutely stuck if we lose our contract. I am really starting to think that the government will be happier if they can drop dentistry from health care all together. RIP NHS dentistry

Serves me right!

A funny weekend. Went to the dentist! I was up in Birmingham at an exhibition and met up with an old University friend. Back at his Practice we gave each other check ups... He had a filling done and I had my teeth cleaned. Bearing in mind that I consider this a routine thing that I do many times a day I'd forgotten how painful it can be! I was lying in the chair pushing myself into the headrest as hard as possible to try to get away from the sensation. Afterwards I convinced myself that it was a good thing to remind myself what its like to be on the other end of the mirror, and also not to leave it so long next time..

Goodbye Mr Hobkinson

Jon's retiring. He'll be going from the end of February. I suppose that he's 67 or 68 now and we've all noticed him slowing down a bit but we'll still be sad to see him go. We'll still have him along to staff outings etc. As they really wouldn't be the same without him. I think as well that as dentistry has become more and more reliant on high technology and new gadgets you have to work harder and harder to keep up to date. I just hope that when I get to Jon's age I've managed to keep my integrity and keep my standards up to his level. He'll be sorely missed.