2004 was a busy year at the Barley Mow.
We have had two members of staff leave – Christine Jarvis and Anne Goswell have both retired and been replaced by Rachel Watchorn from Sherston and Ann Mason from Malmesbury.

Mr Morden has followed on from Mr McNulty's example two years ago and has completely upgraded his surgery whilst Jo, his nurse, was on her honeymoon. It is now sporting a state-of-the-art dental chair ( the fourth installation of this model in the UK), new cabinetry, new lighting, an intraoral camera and much needed new flooring. It came in at a similar price to Mr McNulty's surgery – all up it cost over £32,000.

As the air-conditioning we had fitted last spring in three of the surgeries has been such a success, we have also had air-conditioning fitted in the hygienist surgery and in reception, which will be much appreciated by staff and patients alike.
We have also finished the refurbishing of the garden – at least until the plants grow a little more.
We have also had a Disability Access Audit, which mainly focused on the problems with the only toilet, which are difficult to resolve in the short term. Over the next few months various small changes will be made to provide better access and facilities for our disabled patients.

A Happy Occasion
Those of you whom are keen and observant readers of Wiltshire Life will already know that one of our nursing staff, Jo Snell, daughter of the town councillor, was married this June in Malmesbury Abbey to Richard, the son of well known Jim Thornbury.
Jo made a beautiful bride and the rainy day had no effect on the happiness of the couple.
Recent visitors to the practice who have seen Jo will have realised that a small bundle of joy is now imminent.
We at the Barley Mow would like to wish them all happiness in their future life together.

Software Upgrade

Earlier this year we decided to upgrade our practice software to the more powerful Exact product in advance of major changes to the NHS system in a years time. This has proved to be a good move in several ways – it has since been announced that our old software will not  be upgraded by the software company, and we have found the new software to be very useable once we had gotten over the initial learning curve.
The staff all rose to the occasion and pulled together to get over the inevitable difficulties.
Amongst many of its benefits the new practice software is able to properly store multiple mobile numbers and email addresses.
If you would like us to be able to potentially contact you via these means then please give these details to the reception staff when you are next in the practice.
We hope to be able to use SMS texts and emails to remind you of your upcoming appointments in the future when we have sufficient numbers to make it viable.

Dentistry in the News

There seems to have been several news stories this year that involve developments in dental technology and techniques, as well as inevitably the press focusing on stories of dental shortages and difficulties with access.

The fiasco in Harrogate was certainly headline news, with the an NHS dentist starting work to great fanfare having moved from Holland, only for the press to find out she was awaiting sentencing for assaulting the buyer of her Dutch practice in a dispute over payment for the practice– apparently he was thrown/pushed down some stairs.
As she had not been sentenced yet it was not picked up when she registered in the UK.
As a follow-up to this story a few weeks later it was discovered that her colleague, who had come from Greece, had failed to register with the GDC to practice in the UK...

There have also been innumerable press photographs of queues for patients to register at an NHS practice taking on new patients – in one case it was to ensure they made it on the books as a private patient! when a large NHS practice went private and a large reduction in patient numbers was anticipated.

A manpower study that has been due to be published for over three years finally saw the light of day recently on the last day of Parliament before the summer recess– it concluded that the UK was short 1500 dentists, and that this would get worse over the next decade.

There were also press reports on initial work on implanting new teeth. Teeth develop from tiny clusters of cells called tooth germs and this project hoped one day to be able to implant them in a patient and several years later a tooth would erupt.
There are a number of problems to be overcome, and it is doubted that any clinical trials are closer than ten years. It is also likely that the cost will be similar or greater than that of dental implants – £1500 to 2000 per tooth.

Finally there was the story of the unemployed electrician in Newcastle who took out three teeth with the assistance of a bottle of vodka and a pair of rusty pliers as he apparently couldn't access any dental services in his area. This is disputed by the local Dental Access Centre who said he could have had a same day appointment if he had contacted them….

NHS Registration

When patients are seen under the NHS we are bound by a complex set of regulations on what treatment we can and cannot provide. A random group of patients are assessed each year to ensure that we are providing the right amount of treatment – not too little nor too much, not of the wrong sort.
It is also noteworthy that the computers in Eastbourne will stop paying us to have you or your child as a patient if they or you are not examined and reaccepted at least every fifteen months. Once NHS registration has lapsed we are not obliged to reaccept them or you onto the NHS again, nor provide emergency treatment.
In view of this it is best if all children and teenagers are seen at least annually to ensure they remain registered and so eligible for treatment.
NHS treatment is available free to all young persons until they turn 18. After this it gets a little more complex, and it is best to seek detailed advice from your dentist.