Development and retention of the dental workforce: findings from a regional workforce survey and symposium in England

To help promote a flexible and sustainable workforce in dentistry, it is necessary to access accurate and timely data about the structure and nature of the evolving dental team. This paper considers the results and learning from a region-wide dental workforce survey conducted in one area of Health E...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC health services research 2020-03, Vol.20 (1), p.255-255, Article 255
Main Authors: Holmes, Richard D, Burford, Bryan, Vance, Gillian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beliefs, opinions and attitudes
Conferences, meetings and seminars
Contract reform
Dental assistants
Dental care
Dental insurance
Dentistry
Dentists
Employee development
Employees
Health care access
Health education
Health services
Labor supply
Medicine
Nurses
Oral hygiene
Patients
Practice
Primary care
Professionals
Quantitative
Questionnaires
Scope of practice
Skill-mix
Skills
Survey
Surveys
Workforce
Workforce planning
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To help promote a flexible and sustainable workforce in dentistry, it is necessary to access accurate and timely data about the structure and nature of the evolving dental team. This paper considers the results and learning from a region-wide dental workforce survey conducted in one area of Health Education England and how the team has changed since the last survey a decade earlier. A mixed-methods approach comprised two phases. In Phase 1 a customised workforce questionnaire was sent to all dental practices registered with the Care Quality Commission in the North East of England and North Cumbria in March 2016. Findings then informed Phase 2, a regional symposium held in October 2016, where interactive workshops generated qualitative data that elaborated on factors influencing workforce development. Of 431 primary dental care practices identified, 228 questionnaires were returned - a 53% response rate. The largest professional groups were dental nurses (n = 1269, 53% by headcount; 50% of fte) and dentists (34% by headcount; 42% by fte), though there had been increases in numbers of all staff groups over the decade, which was most marked for dental therapists (from 1 per 39 dentists to 1 per 8 dentists). The dental team predominantly fell into 'younger' age groups (
ISSN:1472-6963
1472-6963
DOI:10.1186/s12913-020-4980-6