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HEIW promotes leadership in dentistry

Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) Postgraduate Dental Dean, Kirstie Moons, alongside Welsh Leadership Clinical Fellows, Alex Rawlins and Hannah Son, were invited to talk at the latest British Dental Association (BDA) Wales Leadership in Dentistry seminar. The seminar took place in Cardiff, earlier this month.

The purpose was to raise awareness and discuss the importance and need for strong leadership across all levels of dentistry, in Wales.

Effective and high-quality compassionate leadership in healthcare, including dentistry, is crucial for providing safe, quality care and retaining valued staff.

Speakers covered the significance of compassionate leadership where professionals are encouraged to embrace leadership roles whilst providing a voice for the whole profession; particularly the voice of team members other than the dentist, as these may not readily be heard. Leaders of dental practices presented on how they lead their practices and empower their team members to collectively lead and contribute effectively to the running of the practice and delivering care to patients.

Dental professionals need to develop the skills and competencies necessary to be able to lead a dental team, where quality and safety of care is a priority, and all members of the team have clear objectives and clarity on their roles and responsibilities.

Visible leadership skills are important for all members of the team. This will increase as the dental profession moves towards a multidisciplinary model of care, utilising skill-mix and widening the use of different roles within the team.

Alex Rawlins spoke on the development of dental nurses as leaders within dental teams and how other team members, particularly dentists, can encourage and facilitate this.

A call to action was suggested to:

  • recognise that leaders exist at all levels in dental teams and everyone in a visible leadership position has a responsibility to demonstrate this
  • build dental nurse engagement in our workplaces
  • support dental nurses to grow leadership skills and confidence
  •  give dental nursing ‘room at the table’ and a voice.

Kirstie Moons, HEIW) Postgraduate Dental Dean said:

“Dental teams require direction, a sense of purpose and to feel valued if they are to achieve success in continuing to support each other, develop services and provide high quality care for their patients.”