I am delighted that the Agenda Committee and I were able to deliver the LDC Conference virtually again this year. Although I miss, as I am sure many others do, meeting face to face I was encouraged by the number of younger colleagues joining us.

I am very grateful to all our invited speakers who made such great contributions. I was particularly interested in the discussion between the English CDO, Sara Hurley, the Head of Primary Care commissioning, Ed Waller and the GDPC Chair, Shawn Charlwood.  It was also informative to hear the clinical perspectives of the two deputy CDOs, Rebecca Harris and Jason Wong.

Steve Mulligan certainly put the concept of sustainable practice on our agendas. I expect this would have been a developing subject anyway but dealing with the pandemic has massively increased the amount of PPE we are using and naturally disposing.  The proposers of motions got on board with the new format enthusiastically and this really made the day.

None of us will practice forever and we need to nurture new entrants into our profession, Prof Youngson helpfully highlighted the challenges facing dental undergraduates and those who teach them, and the likely way forward.

Roz McMullan highlighted the necessity of looking after ourselves and our teams at all times, but particularly during the challenges of working in the pandemic.

LDC CONFERENCE

Saturday 12 June 2021

I am really looking forward to welcoming you to the 2021 LDC conference, again second time the event has had to be virtual. It was heartening to see that when this situation was forced upon us last year the result was a diverse attendance, somewhat younger than we normally have.  Again we will be asking your opinions to help the Agenda Committee plan future events, please take a few moments to share your preferences on the form provided after the conference..

You hardly need me to remind you what a different year this has been as the profession (and society in general) coped with a pandemic the like of which has not been experienced for a century.  As we recover we will consider what we might choose not just to resurrect but improve, a process known as “Building Back Better”.

We have arranged a varied menu of speakers, as always we will hear from the GDPC Chair on how previous motions have been implemented and the status of negotiations, from a colleague who shared his time between practice and university on sustainable practice, and from our educators and how both undergraduate and foundation training will cope in the aftermath of the pandemic.

LDC CONFERENCE

Saturday 12 June 2021

I look forward to welcoming you to this year’s conference which will again be happening online.  We have a number of innovations which I hope will make the experience a little more like conferences have been in the past.  Importantly we will have the usual mix of debate, informative content and comment from the dental movers and shakers.

We are working towards offering informal networking sessions, including a post-conference bar…if you bring your own drinks!  We also intend having the virtual venue open in the week before conference meaning that you will be able to familiarise yourself with the arrangements ahead of the event.

MOTIONS