A message from out-going Conference Chair, Leah Farrell

I am very pleased that the Agenda Committee and I were able to deliver the LDC Conference this year despite being in the middle of a pandemic. We had to act fast and invent a way of producing it online.

I am extremely grateful to all the invited speakers who rallied round and made such great contributions. The proposers of motions got on board with the new format enthusiastically and this really made the day.

Despite some technical challenges we were able to deliver a full agenda and debate 32 motions.

Thank you to everybody who attended for embracing the virtual challenge.
Copies of presentations are available to access here and details of motions passed can be found here, along with election results.
Conference footage is now available here
Congratulations to the following colleagues who were elected to positions:

• Dan Cook (Chair-elect)
• Peter Hodgkinson (Honorary Treasurer)
• Jonathan Randall and Alexander Bruce Porteous (Honorary Auditors)
• Roger Levy (Conference Representative to the GDPC)
• Zoe Connelly (Member to Conference Agenda Committee)
• Mark Haigh (Member to British Dental Guild Board of Managers)

I am pleased to hand the chain of office to Stuart Allan and I know you are in good hands.

Best wishes,

Leah Farrell
LDC Conference Chair 2020


A message from the incoming Conference Chair, Stuart Allan

Thank you Leah for delivering a conference against ridiculous odds, the online version was different and certainly gives us a steer for the future.

I look forward to some precedented times having had to live through months of unprecedented ones! We will have a conference next year, the precise nature of which will depend on circumstances, watch this space.

Though none of us would have wished the crisis resulting from the Covid pandemic on the world in general, or our profession, it does mean that the widely derided UDA system has been removed; our challenge this year is to ensure it is replaced by something better. We need to swing behind the negotiating team at the GDPC now more than ever.

Farewell Vijay Sudra and thank you for all your input on the Agenda Committee over the past three years. Welcome Zoe Connelly and congratulations Dan Cook on assuming the Chair-elect role.

See you at LDC Officials’ day! Save the date - Friday 27 November 2020 (ONLINE).

Stuart Allan
LDC Conference Chair 2021

If you have any queries following this event please contact Fiona Feltham, Events Manager (020 7563 6876, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Plans are coming together very well for the Virtual LDC conference taking place on Saturday 25 July.

We have a great selection of motions which shows just how well engaged with conference LDCs are this year. We have also seen had a fantastic response to the special observer positions and will be welcoming lots of newcomers this year.

Amongst others we will be in conversation with Sara Hurley, CDO England and we will for the first time in a few years hear from the Minister Jo Churchill.

Shawn Charlwood will update conference on GDPC’s position during the COVID NHSE contract payment negotiations and has made a request that everybody at conference be given the opportunity to provide vital input to the ongoing negotiation process.

Please consider what features you feel a future dental contract should incorporate and share your thoughts with conference during this discussion. Conference should grasp this opportunity to shape the NHSE contract as it evolves through the recovery phase.

Motions will be sent out shortly to all registered attendees; please do take some time to consider your position on each of them. We encourage you to comment on the day if you feel you have something to add to any of the motions. The event will be all the better if you get fully engaged and lend your voice.

Looking forward to seeing you there; we’re all pioneers of the virtual conference frontier.

Leah Farrell
LDC Conference Chair 2020

Further assistance or questions
If you have a question regarding the arrangements for the conference please contact Fiona Feltham (Events Manager) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Registration is now open!

Plans for a virtual LDC Conference on Saturday 25 July are now well underway. The day will incorporate much of what is core to Conference - the discussion of motions, the opportunity to hear about the latest developments in dental politics and debate with key figures in the profession, and indeed to network with colleagues from across the UK.
The below provides a summary on the registration process and the deadlines for motions and nominations.
Action required by Wednesday 1 July

Motions

This year is exceptional in that a virtual conference has been convened at pace, and the time
available to consider motions is shorter than in “normal “ years. Notwithstanding the shortened timeframe we are confident that LDCs will be able to confer and will have many burning issues to raise in the form of motions for debate.

We request that motions are submitted by Wednesday 1 July.

The agenda committee is acutely aware that events are moving very quickly and accept you
may want to leave submission motions until nearer the deadline. Motions of an urgent nature may be admitted for debate nearer the date of conference at the discretion of the Conference Chair.

We recommend looking at the ‘Contribute’ section of the website where there is
plenty of guidance on how to effectively prepare and then propose a motion.

Once motions are confirmed, proposers will be contacted by the organising team to arrange the video recording of their motion. Video recording in advance (e.g. using a camera on your phone) is the preferred method as it will allow for smoother running of the conference on the day. If you are not able to record your speech in advance you will be able speak live. Please note the proposer must be available to attend and engage on the day of the Conference and has the right to reply to any debate that arises.

Proposal of motions may not exceed three minutes in length. The time allowed for reply is one minute.

Nominations

To help with the revised format for this year, nominations for the positions outlined below must be submitted in advance using the online nomination forms available on the website. It will not be possible to nominate ‘from the floor’.
Elections will take place for the following seven positions:

1. Chair elect of conference
2. Honorary treasurer
3. Two honorary auditors
4. One representative to GDPC
5. One representative to the board of managers of the British Dental Guild
6. One representative to the Conference Agenda Committee

Information about what each of the roles entails can be found on the website here.

All nominations must be received by Wednesday 1 July.

Registration process

As usual the Conference is open to nominated LDC representatives and members of the BDA General Dental Practice Committee.
The conference will be hosted on Zoom, and all LDCs representative and GDPC members must register in advance (booking via the LDC Conference website) to ensure they receive their unique access links which will be distributed with final papers (due out Saturday 18 July).

Click here to book your place

Message from the Chair of LDC Conference

I am writing to advise you that the LDC Conference Agenda committee held a virtual meeting this morning to discuss the future of this year's conference.  As you know this is currently scheduled to take place in November.

 We are naturally frustrated with the uncertainty of the situation that we all find ourselves in but the possibility of facilitating a conference in November is looking increasingly doubtful. 

The Committee, with regret, unanimously voted to cancel the event - to avoid spending time organising a face- to-face event which almost certainly would not take place.

We are however planning to run a virtual Conference - which will incorporate much of what is core to Conference - the discussion of motions, the opportunity to hear about the latest developments in dental politics and debate with key figures in the profession, and indeed to network with colleagues from across the UK.

This virtual Conference is scheduled to take place on Saturday 25 July and Fiona Feltham, our event organiser will be sending more detail through in due course.

LDC Conference 2020 (4 and 5 June 2020) – POSTPONED

Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, this year’s LDC Conference and Dinner due to take place in Brighton on the 4 and 5 June will be postponed.

Update April 2:
Closing date for registration, motions and nominations is now Friday 2 October.

The event will instead be held on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 November 2020 – same place, different dates! We are in the process of confirming the finer details and we will share more information as soon as we have it.

With LDC Conference taking place in late November, there will be no dedicated LDC Officials’ day this year.

I am very much looking forward to welcoming you all to LDC Conference at the Grand Hotel Brighton on 4-5 June. We promise to complement our time-honoured tradition of debate, with innovation and new insights to enable us to shape the future of dentistry.

Motions

It is time for all LDCs to start thinking about writing and submitting motions. Your motions are crucial to the debate, they are the voice of the grassroots and point the direction, so GDPC can fight for the desperately needed improvements for our profession.

To assist in deciding which motions your LDC will propose, this year we have produced a catalogue of all motions carried in the last three years. This will show you what has been most important to dentists recently. You can also review the footage from the last two years here.

Because motions are intended to give direction for GDPC policy please find here a list of existing GDPC polices. This outlines how GDPC has acted on motions carried at previous conferences and how much they have achieved on our behalf.