innovative
Behind this cover are bright ideas helping to improve the oral health of Victorians
Thank you to all the Victorian public dental agencies who shared their stories with us.
contents Reducing waiting lists ........................................................................ 3 Super idea - Ballarat Health Services Improving access - Southern Metro Regional Oral Health Network.
Improving efficiencies......................................................................... 6 An innovative and sustainable model - Plenty Valley Community Health Service Managing vacant appointments - Monash Health
Workforce ................................................................................................... 9 Attracting and retaining staff - Barwon Health Balancing student satisfaction and clinic productivity - East Grampians Health Services Agencies working together - Gippsland Oral Health Consortium
Priority groups ...................................................................................... 13 Encouraging priority groups - Inner South Community Health Service Refugee and asylum seeker access - Doutta Gala Community Health Teeth Tales - Merri Community Health Services Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients - Plenty Valley Community Health Service Smiles 4 Miles - Dental Health Services Victoria Happy Mouths, Happy Kids - East Grampians Health Services Kinder Wide Smiles - Barwon Health and Colac Area Health
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Oral health promotion for kids - MonashLink Community Health Service Tooth Packs study - Dental Health Services Victoria Working with midwives - Dental Health Services Victoria Healthy Families, Healthy Smiles - Dental Health Services Victoria
Improving oral health ................................................................. 25 Outreach program - Goulburn Valley Health Enhancing community health and wellbeing - Boort District Health Blueprint for treating specialist patients locally - Monash Health Emergency dental kit - Goulburn Valley Health Improving patient access - Swan Hill District Health
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Reducing waiting lists
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innovative
Behind this story is Ballarat Health Services’ super idea to help tackle waiting lists and improve access The idea was simple: find a way to help reduce the long wait list for regional people accessing dental care. What Ballarat Health Services (BHS) came up with was a clever scheme it called Super Saturdays dental sessions - bulk screening of clients on wait lists. This fast-track system was run over four hours and managed to screen around 200 patients. Next, BHS divided the patients into two groups: internal and external. Vouchers were then issued to those who had low need and could have treatment completed in one voucher. Those identified with higher need were given bulk appointments to quickly complete their care inhouse.
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Jacqui Nolan, Operations Team Leader of BHS said that by using this fast-track system, Ballarat has reduced its waiting list times by 24 months and the feedback from clients is, understandably, very positive. “We have learned how to optimise our appointment scheduling and use our resources effectively,” Ms Nolan said. “We have established good relationships within the local private dental community. “The process of scheduling these sessions is a great audit tool for the reduction of the waiting list, as many clients are no longer eligible, or have sought private care.”
DHSV Innovations Workshop 2013
partnerships
Behind this story is Southern Metro Region’s idea to improve patient access to oral health care When reviewing the disparity of waitlist times between its five agencies, Southern Metro Regional Oral Health Network (SMROHN) came up with an idea that challenged entrenched thinking to deliver improved access for patients. Anna Devine from SMROHN said waitlist management was a major concern for the network and it needed to find a way to provide earlier access for people across its publicly funded community services. With the support of Dental Health Services Victoria, it developed a pilot program that investigated if patients waiting for oral health care at Monash Health would be willing to be treated at other clinics that may be further from home, but with shorter waiting times. As part of the pilot study, 500 people were selected from across SMROHN’s large catchment
area, but this time without considering their postcodes or access to public transport as had been previously attempted. Ms Devine said the network did this to challenge the belief that people, in particular older clients, would not travel for treatment. “While this may be true for some, our team found that there was a significant number who were willing to travel further to receive treatment,” she said. Ms Devine said the key to the success of the pilot was strong communication and collaboration between agencies. “The most obvious benefit we have seen from this pilot is that 62 people were seen and treated much earlier than had they remained on Monash Health’s waiting list.”
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Improving efficiencies
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clever
Behind this poster is a new and sustainable model of dental care for the Plenty Valley community A partnership between private and public dental has helped Plenty Valley Community Health (PVCH) provide more care for all priority patients and, at the same time, to capture low income clients without a healthcare card.
It works well, said Dr Sajeev Koshy, Clinical Director of Dental at PVCH, because the staff are highly dedicated and motivated to ensuring effective use of dental clinic sessions and the regular monitoring of appointments.
PVCH was one of the first public dental agencies in Victoria to use the private/public model introducing private sessions more than a decade ago on Saturdays and in the evenings.
“It is an innovative and sustainable model that has led to more people treated, at a lower cost.
It now offers more than 10 private sessions a week to more effectively use its resources with extended hours. This has helped PVCH to deliver more low cost dental care and introduce initiatives such as Saturday sessions used mainly by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, recall appointments and also private patient and emergencies.
“It is helping to meet the needs of the community, who are predominantly low income clients, as well as with staff retention.� PVCH adopted the Australian Clinical Dental Course, a training program for overseas dentists appearing for registration examinations. It is the first of its kind. These initiatives have helped to develop best practice delivery on site.
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capable
Behind this story is a team at MonashHealth working to improve the wait time for people in need of care The dental clinic at Monash Health has found a way to not only axe vacant hours from cancelled appointments, but also ease emergency demand at the same time. The idea was to improve efficiency by better managing vacant clinic hours when patients failed to attend or cancelled an appointment. What Monash Health came up with was a Sit and Wait policy and Monash Health says it has been a great success in the region. Piloted in 2012, Sit and Wait integrates emergency patients with clinic appointments, ensuring that emergency patients can be seen whenever there was a Failed to Attend (FTA) or late cancellation from a prior booking. Dr Ramini Shankumar,
Director of Oral Health Services at Monash Health, said Monash Health had also been able to achieve the best triage compliance rate in Victoria while at the same time, reducing its vacant clinic hours. “It allows patients to get through the system within four hours of presenting with an emergency,” Dr Shankumar said. “We have reduced vacant clinic hours due to unattended appointments from 20% to 5%.” Southern regional agencies have also adopted this innovative process of managing emergency clients and improve clinic efficiency.
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Workforce
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astute
Behind this story is Barwon Health’s hard work to attract and retain oral health staff and improve access A scheme to not only attract - but also retain - oral health staff in regional areas has been developed by Barwon Health. Called Dreams and Schemes, the workplace initiative has at its core a desire to improve access to public dental services and innovative oral health programs for eligible people. It also allows employment of a multi-disciplinary oral health workforce that can respond to local demand. Barwon Health introduced a rural rotation model for its dentists, oral health therapists, advanced dental prosthetists and dental assistants. It says this had helped to ensure the security of service delivery for the agencies and to offer a supportive and diverse workplace for graduate dentists and oral health therapists.
Barwon Health said that recruitment of experienced locally-trained dentists had been problematic. It said that through programs such as the International Graduate Dental program developed by Dental Health Services Victoria and the federally-funded VDGYP and the Dental Graduate Practitioners Program (DGP) internationally-educated dentists received supervision, mentoring and support. The model had, said Barwon Health, helped it to gain a reputation as an employer of choice and the innovative programs for oral health graduates had provided incentives for both participants and the agency. The VDGYP had also provided infrastructure funding for a Mobile Dental Clinic that Barwon Health said would be used to provide services to communities with limited or no access to dental treatment.
The Federal Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, was at The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne to launch the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program.
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learning
Behind this story is the perfect balance between student satisfaction and clinic productivity at East Grampians Training the next generation of quality oral health care professionals while also continuing to productively provide services for a rural community was the impetus for a study at the East Grampians Health Service. At the heart of the study was measuring student satisfaction and securing a rural dental workforce against clinical productivity. The balance, East Grampians Health Service found, was challenging to achieve. The study, completed in conjunction with Dental Health Services Victoria and LaTrobe University, was undertaken to find the best model to give students satisfaction, while at the same time maintaining a clinic’s productivity.
clinical experience, measuring community outcomes against effectiveness and measuring productivity and activity maintenance. Two groups of four students used three separate student models to measure the success in terms of productivity and satisfaction. The data concluded that, overall, the ability of the supervising dentist to keep a small clinical caseload proved to be positive and it was crucial that students were exposed to positive clinical placement experiences in rural environments. This was, said the investigators, absolutely necessary to promote the benefits of working in a rural environment after graduation.
It did this by looking at ways to maximise student
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teamwork
Behind this story is an example of how teamwork paid off for Gippsland Oral Health Consortium Six community dental agencies of the Gippsland Oral Health Consortium (GOHC) have been working together to improve public dental services across the Gippsland region. The Consortium applied for the new Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program (VDGYP) which has provided dental graduates with a structured program for enhanced practical experience and professional development opportunities while increasing the workforce and service delivery in the public sector. The program has offered the region an opportunity to increase infrastructure to support a greater patient throughput and also to attract dentists to the region who may not have considered this as an option. Ben Leigh, Chair GOHC, said there was a strong shared vision of all the members and this resulted in it being the only joint regional submission to
Dental graduate Dr Alan Taing being mentored by LCHS dentist Dr Rajeev De Silva
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be successfully awarded two graduates this year and substantial infrastructure funding. Mr Leigh said a regional approach strengthened the dental workforce, increased access to public dental services and helped provide training, mentoring and support across all locations. “Working as a consortium allowed us to more successfully recruit and retain dental staff which has been difficult in regional and remote areas.” He said a central project officer to keep everything on track had been essential, as had the understanding of the needs of all stakeholders. “We had improved buying power through central purchasing rather than individual agencies.” “It has allowed five new surgeries to be built and one existing surgery to be fully refurbished.”
Dental graduate Dr Anna Chan treating a patient at LCHS in Morwell
Priority groups
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compassion
Behind this story is Inner South Community Health Services’ idea to help priority populations In a bid to make sure public oral health services are more readily accessible to priority populations, Inner South Community Health Service has just completed a comprehensive review aimed at pinpointing what works best to improve the delivery of services to eligible clients. In collaboration with Monash University, it reviewed the Priority Populations Model of Care which was set up to target strategies that would help attract marginalised, high-risk members of its local community. These groups included Aboriginal people, those who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, people with mental illness or cognitive problems and those living with HIV. The group studied also included people with alcohol or drug issues and pre-school children. The oral health team from ISCHS said it had,
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for many years, used targeted strategies to encourage more priority populations to use public dental services. As part of this Model of Care project, it also investigated evidence-based strategies and in 2012 formed a partnership with Monash University Department of Public and Preventative Health to evaluate those strategies. In May 2013 it will complete its final report and will reveal the major findings at an Innovative Workshop organised by Dental Health Services Victoria. The team said early findings showed strong client outcomes and that the information would provide essential information for the oral health sector.
DHSV Innovations Workshop 2013
inclusive
Behind this story is a project that will ensure refugees and asylum seekers have better access to oral health Doutta Galla Community Health is finding ways to help refugees and asylum seekers achieve better oral health, through a study looking at how barriers to visiting a dentist could be addressed. Doutta Galla Community Health commenced on “Talking about Teeth” to study ways to implement the Refugee Model of Care released by Victorian community services earlier this year. Talking about Teeth studied how Horn of Africa residents accessed dental care with an aim to help them overcome barriers to visiting a dentist. Anne Lennard, Manager of Oral Health and Dental Services at Doutta Galla Community Health said refugees were not always aware they were eligible for free dental treatment. “Residents were not seeking dental care due to
cost and language barriers,” Ms Lennard said. She also said that the community viewed the absence of pain as a sign of good dental health. “Community members stopped seeking treatment when they no longer felt pain as they associated absence of pain with good health.” Ms Lennard said the study emphasised the need to improve communication and engagement with the community to help residents understand how to access dental services. “We need to create a friendly and welcoming space for them, and identify their needs such as interpreter services and eligibility to gain priority access,” she said. Ms Lennard said Doutta Galla Community Health will also look at studying other risk groups.
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understanding
Behind this story is a team who are working to improve the oral health of the area’s migrant community
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Merri Community Health Services (MCHS) in partnership with The University of Melbourne, Dental Health Services Victoria, local government and cultural organisations, aims to make a difference to the oral health of children in migrant communities through Teeth Tales.
Families were allocated to intervention or comparison groups based on their proximity to MCHS services. The intervention included six hours of peer-led oral health education over two weeks for parents, and a visit to MCHS to improve familiarity with the services offered.
Teeth Tales first began in 2006 after development of a culturally-competent exploratory trial, implementing a community-based child oral health promotion intervention for families from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
The education sessions focused on key messages from DHSV - Eat Well, Drink Well, Clean Well and Stay Well - which encourage adoption of positive oral health behaviours at an early age. Cultural competence reviews were also conducted.
It was piloted at North Richmond Community Health and involved 78 families from Oromo, Sudanese and Vietnamese backgrounds. The outcomes from the pilot informed the main study in which 667 children from 521 Lebanese, Iraqi and Pakistani families received dental screenings. From this group, 79 were given referrals to MCHS dental services.
Although Teeth Tales is still underway and final results are not yet available, the project has highlighted that children from families with migrant backgrounds are at greater risk of poor oral health. Consideration of cultural values and traditional oral health practices need to be incorporated into health promotion initiatives in order to meet the needs of these target groups.
integrated
Behind this story is a clever way to combine breakfast with a visit to the dentist in Plenty Valley Introducing a Saturday morning breakfast and dental clinic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and their families has helped improve access to services at Plenty Valley Community Health (PVCH). With the oral health care provided by Dr Alex Thomas from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, the culturally appropriate program has helped improve access for patients.
“After the introduction of the service the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients increased year on year,” Ms Power said. “The program also acted as a gateway to other services at PVCH, such as the diabetes educator and the drug and alcohol counsellor.”
The unique project - said to be the only one in Victoria - is a partnership between PVCH, the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV).
PVCH provides primary healthcare, social and psychological support services to people of all ages. Its services have a strong focus on treatment, prevention, early identification, rehabilitation and maximising independent living skills.
Ms Doreen Power, Chief Executive Officer of PVCH, said before it introduced the Saturday morning service, only a few Aboriginal clients were treated over a five-year period.
PVCH partners with general practitioners, hospitals, government, local agencies and community members to maintain an effective universal primary healthcare system.
L-R: Ms Doreen Power, Dr Alex Thomas and Dr Sajeev Koshy
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smile
Behind this story are community partnerships created to improve the oral health of Victorian children Every year, Smiles 4 Miles is working to improve the oral health of young Victorian children, setting them up for a lifetime of good oral health. In 2003-04 Dental Health Services Victoria introduced its flagship program, the Smiles 4 Miles oral health promotion initiative, in response to the alarming rates of dental decay experienced by young children. Commencing with 16 services and 776 children, in 2013 Smiles 4 Miles will reach 481 services and over 28,000 children across Victoria. Dental Health Services Victoria partners with local organisations, for example local governments or community health services, to build oral health promotion capacity in preschool communities using a whole-ofsetting approach based on the best practice Health Promoting Schools Framework.
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This model recommends health promotion programs be embedded into education environments through curriculum, school ethos and relationships between the school and local community. Smiles 4 Miles works to improve children’s oral health by encouraging healthy eating, healthy drinking and good oral hygiene practices among preschool aged children and their families, particularly in areas with high risk of oral disease. The local partner organisations support early childhood services to meet the criteria required to achieve the Smiles 4 Miles award. The award is a public acknowledgement of the service’s commitment to improving the oral health of the children they care for and their families.
relationships
Behind this story are strong relationships that are proving the key to happy mouths and happy kids Taking the good oral health and general wellbeing message to the classroom is the focus of a pilot study by East Grampians Health Services (EGHS). The health service already has strong relationships with local primary schools, but it has taken them a step further with a program developed with the support of Dental Health Services Victoria - Happy Mouths Happy Kids. Katherine Cooper from EGHS said the school in the pilot program was identified as a health priority for the Ararat Rural City area. She said there was strong community support not only from EGHS, but also the school principal for implementing a program such as Happy Mouths Happy Kids. With the aim of improving the oral and general health of the primary school students, EGHS is combining regular dental check-ups with education support through health professionals.
Those requiring follow up appointments, including x-rays, are collected from school in small groups and taken to the dental clinic. The health service also visits to the school so that health professionals, including dentists and dieticians, interact with the children to develop positive relationships. “One visit saw the dentist visit the school to meet the children and talk to them about good oral health,” Mrs Cooper said. “The children were engaged and had lots of questions.” Regular visits to the school are now common and the school has a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program that will be incorporated into the healthy eating messages. “The staff and children have fully embraced the Happy Mouths Happy Kids concept with staff committing their time and resources to add value to the program,” Mrs Cooper said.
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caring
Behind this story is a bright idea from Barwon Health to help improve oral health in a cost-effective way The Kinder Wide Smiles program is looking at the effectiveness of an holistic approach to the treatment of dental caries in kindergarten children. Using the principle of Minimal Intervention Dentistry (MID), teams at Barwon Health and Colac Area Health are offering dental examination and topical fluoride application to “white spot” lesions to see if this approach can make a difference to the detection and treatment of caries in children. MID includes early diagnosis, risk assessment, early detection of mineral loss, non-surgical treatment and preservation of tooth structure. Dr Michael Smith, who manages both Barwon Health and Colac Area Health, said dentists, dental therapists and oral health therapists had started providing the treatment to an initial 282 children in the region located west of Melbourne.
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Dr Smith said that the program is being offered to 43 kindergartens in the Geelong and Bellarine region - around 3500 children aged between three and four - and a further 500 children from 17 kindergartens at Colac and surrounding towns. He said parental consent was required for the examination and topical fluoride application and that agreement from parents had varied from 33-80 per cent. Of the kindergartens visited in March and April, 36 children were referred to clinics for treatment and 35 had fluoride applied. “Minimal Intervention Dentistry brings an holistic approach to the treatment of dental caries,” Dr Smith said. “We are looking at whether this is a costeffective way to improve oral health, general health and quality of life.”
DHSV Innovations Workshop 2013
healthy
Behind this story is an effective program that is helping to keep kids smiling in the City of Monash A program that aims to keep kids smiling by creating a positive experience at dental clinics for children and their families is helping to deliver the right oral health message in the City of Monash. MonashLink Community Health Service developed a project called Keeping Kids Smiling with funding from the Department of Health and has been trialling it in school and family settings for the last two years. The aim, said Dr Felicia Valianatos from MonashLink CHS, was to identify children at high risk of oral disease by helping to increase awareness of the important partnership between family and oral health professionals in maintaining child oral health. She said the integrated program also helped open access to other health services for children.
�This is helping to develop the required skills and knowledge to develop and maintain good oral health,� Dr Valianatos said. The aim is to reduce the caries in the target population of children aged five to six by identifying risk and improving oral hygiene habits. This is done in consultation and by assessing feedback from families involved. MonashLink Oral Health Service has a modern 10-chair clinic at the Clayton Communty Centre and runs a pubic dental program funded by Dental Health Services Victoria. Its qualified staff includes dentists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, hygienists and prosthetists who are assisted by trainee and qualified dental assistants.
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cooperative
Behind this story are health promotion and research teams working closely with maternal child health nurses The Tooth Packs pilot study builds on the work the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Service does to promote oral health in early childhood. The study is testing whether providing toothbrushes and toothpaste to families improves brushing habits in children. Preliminary results have found that it is a feasible and acceptable approach to oral health promotion. Statewide Manager Health Promotion at Dental Health Services Victoria Sue Kearney said: “The MCH Service has been a long-term partner in promoting oral health. By supporting MCH nurses in this role, we are contributing to better oral health outcomes for children.” Dental Health Services Victoria also provides a comprehensive oral health manual for MCH nurses and fact sheets which reach approximately 80,000 families a year. Ms Kearney said the packs were a great way to enhance existing strategies including discussions
with families, mouth checks and referral to dental services when needed. “As part of the study more than 5000 toothbrushes and 3500 toothpastes have been distributed to around 1500 families,” Ms Kearney said. “By doing mouth checks nurses identified that approximately 8% of 18-month-old children and one in ten of two-year-old children had some degree of dental decay. Referrals to dental services were provided to 85 of these children.” The MCH nurses from four local government areas across Victoria involved in the study have also provided important feedback to help guide recommendations for future directions. Results on changes to toothbrushing behaviours are expected in late 2013. The Tooth Packs study is a partnership between the Australian Population Health Improvement Research Strategy, the DHSV Health Promotion team and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
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inspiring
Behind this story are Victorian midwives opening doors to better oral health for pregnant women As part of Healthy Families, Healthy Smiles 33 Victorian midwives successfully completed their oral health training in April this year. The Midwifery Initiated Oral Health Education Program (MIOH) is an online oral health training package increasing knowledge and confidence in midwives to help them include oral health promotion in their practice. Midwives are well placed to share knowledge and advice with pregnant women but until now have had limited formal education concerning oral health in pregnancy. MIOH has equipped midwives to include oral health in the first antenatal care appointment, in line with the new National Clinical Practice Guidelines for antenatal care in the first trimester. Findings from the pilot showed improvements in midwives’ knowledge and confidence around oral health, screening for oral health problems and referral to dental services.
Nearly all of the midwives reported that the training would be useful to their practice and stated that oral health was an important part of primary health care. “I found it really interesting and have been using the information with the women I see,” said one midwife who completed the training. “I have also found myself taking more notice of their oral health without deliberate thought.” As a result of the findings from the pilot, Healthy Families, Healthy Smiles is looking to expand such training across Victoria. This project is a partnership between DHSV, Centre for Applied Nursing Research, University of Western Sydney, and South Western Sydney Local Health District/ Ingham Institute Applied Medical Research. It is funded by the Victorian Government through the Healthy Families, Healthy Smiles initiative. The evaluation is supported by the Australian Population Health Improvement Research Strategy for Oral Health.
Images from the Launch of the Healthy Families, Healthy Smiles Program at RDHM February, 2013
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exciting
Behind this story are people building new partnerships with early childhood professionals for better oral health Early childhood professionals can play an important role in oral health promotion for very young children. Given that over 70 per cent of children have not seen an oral health professional before they begin primary school, early childhood professionals are key allies for oral health promotion. Stakeholders from early parenting centres and early childhood education and care settings are working with Dental Health Services Victoria as part of the Healthy Families, Healthy Smiles initiative to develop appropriate capacity building strategies for oral health promotion in their sector.
National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care and the Achievement Program. The Playgroup Working Group is planning the development of other appropriate tools to complement the oral health resource kit. DHSV is also working with Early Parenting Centres to develop a train-the-trainer style package called ‘Baby Teeth Count Too!’. The first two modules of the package were trialled with 27 staff at an in-house professional development day in early 2013. Evaluation results showed that this style of training and the content is appropriate. Two further modules are planned.
An oral health training package and a resource kit to support these professionals are planned. Two working groups have been established.
Engaging with the early childhood sector is a necessary and beneficial process to developing sustainable oral health promotion strategies.
The Early Childhood Educators’ Working Group is progressing the training and support package for services that align with the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, the
A participatory process ensures that training and resource packages are styled to align with everyday practices and do not compete or add an extra burden to busy professionals.
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Improving oral health
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connected
Behind this story is a first in Goulburn Valley: an outreach dental service for the region’s elderly residents Goulburn Valley’s outreach dental service has been delivering free dental care to eligible elderly residents across aged care centres in the region. Being the region’s only outreach dental service, it has been effective in accessing many patients - by using portable equipment which non-specialist dentists can use without having to undergo significant training. Clinical director of the Goulburn Valley Dental Service, Dr David Whelan, said the aim was to create an efficient way of reaching a disadvantaged group that allowed non-specialist dentists to provide care. “A lot of elderly deny themselves of treatment because of the cost,” Dr Whelan said. “We make it free to remove barriers to access.” Dr Whelan said the dental service travelled to facilities with at least six patients, a suitable room
Compressor and dental cart with transportation lid off
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and a staff member who could ensure the patients were available for their appointments. He said dentists also practised cost-saving measures such as using functional impressions at the visit to reline dentures which can be picked up at a later date by a non-dental staff member and processed on the same day. “Given the distances we cover it makes it cost effective to avoid the dentist and nursing staff revisiting,” Dr Whelan said. The service has been operating since 2011 and well received by aged care centres. Dr Whelan said he hoped this service could be used as a template for other regions to follow. “The patients are treated in a familiar environment and it helps maintain the oral health of residents in aged care centres,” he said.
Dental supply trolley
Tool box for carrying dental instruments in the station wagon
DHSV Innovations Workshop 2013
community
Behind this story is Boort’s recipe for dentistry at your doorstep Boort District Health’s (BDH) vision is to enhance the health and wellbeing of the community. Rural communities are like that - they take care of each other. Boort is a little over 250 km north-west of Melbourne with a population teetering around 800 people. Its community health service provides care to residents there and in surrounding towns within the Loddon Mallee region. BDH introduced Boort Outreach Model of Care last September. Former CEO Veronica Jamieson and Northern District Community Health Service piloted the program and it has strong support from the current CEO Vicki Poxon. Dr Chetan Bhardwaj from BDH said the purpose of the project was to create an awareness of dental health issues, accessibility to dental care and an understanding of the importance of early intervention in treatment and prevention. “We provide school dental services to clients with healthcare cards as well as people with teen
dental vouchers and a private dental service,” Dr Bhardwaj said. As part of its program to increase awareness, it provided free dental check ups, education and follow-up appointments. The program was welcomed by the community so enthusiastically that BDH has now expanded the project to highlight how just a single chair dental practice can be successful within the rural community and the importance of consistency in dental care. Dr Sajeev Koshy, Director of Dental Services at BDH said their efforts have been fruitful. “We realised the importance of partnerships with different health agencies and eventually gaining the confidence of the local community who now accept that good, accessible dental care can be at their doorsteps,” Dr Koshy said. The dental service is provided six days a week and the service model includes a dentist and a dental therapist for care.
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clever
Behind this story is a blueprint for effectively treating specialist patients locally A clinic that for years has been providing specialist oral medicine services in Dandenong is the inspiration for a new clinic that in just 12 months has helped up-skill dentists and reduce waiting lists. Professor Geoffrey Quail started a specialist oral medicine clinic at Dandenong to provide care for patients who would otherwise need to travel to The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne.
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Dr Rather, who has been managing the clinic, said this has helped general dental practitioners to do more effective screening of patients with oral lesions. “Although the general dental practitioners do not need more training to do such screening, the up-skilling provided through this program has helped build their confidence,” he said.
He provided in-house training to general dental practitioners to increase their skills.
The dentists are also encouraged to complete the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons.
So successful was his idea that Monash Health Oral Health decided to use it as a blueprint for the new clinic that is already helping to reduce referrals to specialist services.
Dr Rather said patients are now being referred to the clinic not only from within the Monash Health Oral Health service, but also from private practitioners in surrounding areas.
Dr Naseem Rather from Monash Health said for people living in the Dandenong area, travel to the RDHM and long wait lists were an issue.
“It has helped patients from areas such as Pakenham and Cranbourne in particular who would otherwise have to travel some distance for treatment.”
DHSV Innovations Workshop 2013
prepared
Behind this story is a dental emergency kit that is helping medical staff to provide dental care after hours A handy dental emergency kit coupled with the goodwill of Goulburn Valley’s dentists has helped non-dental staff of the Goulburn Valley Hospital provide basic dental care to patients presenting with dental emergencies at night and on weekends. The dental emergency kit devised by the Goulburn Valley Dental Service is a quick guide for non-dental staff to save broken teeth, containing instruction cards and plastic instruments such as disposable mouth mirrors. Clinical Director of Goulburn Valley Dental Service, Dr David Whelan, said the kit was simplified to allow anyone to use. “We have easy to mix Fuji 9 powder and liquid which we have renamed as ‘band-aid for broken teeth’, together with easy to follow photo instructions on how to apply it,” Dr Whelan said.
Fuji 9 powder and liquid
“All the doctor or practice nurse needs to do is look at photos and attend to the patient with simple instructions using basic tools.” Dentists from the Goulburn Valley Dental Service take turns to be on-call where the hospital’s emergency department can ring 24/7 to seek dental advice or talk them through a procedure using the emergency kit. “It’s no cost to the organisation when dentists take calls to give dental advice as they are only paid when they have to come in,” Dr Whelan said. The Goulburn Valley Dental Service is part of Goulburn Valley Health, a 280 bed acute and extended care facility which provides surgical, medical, paediatric, obstetrics and gynaecology, intensive care and psychiatry services as well as extended care and regional services.
Contents of dental emergency kit
Dental emergency kit with autoclaves bags of dental rolls
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happy
Behind this story is an idea that will help improve patient access to care at Swan Hill District Health Incorporating a private practice with its public dental service has helped the Swan Hill District Dental Health Service cut waiting lists, retain staff and improve services. With only one private dental clinic in the region that had a waiting list of up to seven months, the health service decided to incorporate a private practice into its community clinic with impressive results. Jeanette Healey from the Swan Hill District Dental Health Service said the idea came from necessity. She said the clinic was regularly receiving calls from families asking if it provided a dental service for private patients. “There is only one private practice in Swan Hill, and it is closed on Friday afternoon,” she said. “The nearest other private practice is in Kerang, a 45-minute drive away and there is very limited
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public transport.” She said introducing a private practice into the community clinic was an opportunity to help reduce waiting lists and help with staff retention. Last August the private practice was introduced and promoted to the wider community. Ms Healey said the health service was happy with the result that had helped with income for the clinic, retain staff and expand the services. “It will also allow public services to be expanded if more public funding becomes available,” Ms Healey said. “The key learning from this project for us has been that incorporating private practice into the community clinic does work.”
DHSV Innovations Workshop 2013
Dental Health Services Victoria 720 Swanston Street, Carlton VIC www.dhsv.org.au www.twitter.com/VicDental www.facebook.com/DentalHealthVic