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Personal dental services (PDS) are new forms of NHS dental care in England that employ a locally negotiated contract as opposed to one based on a nationally negotiated scale of fees. These schemes have been specifically designed to tackle local problems related to access and oral health needs. This practice paper examines the main findings of a Department of Health-funded evaluation from 20 first and second wave PDS pilots. The paper reveals that all PDS pilots changed treatment profiles in an attempt to meet local oral health needs and/or promote access to NHS dentistry. Moreover, PDS pilots appeared to encourage a new skill-mix, provide job satisfaction and improve working conditions. PDS pilots appear to have provided an opportunity to change the culture of primary dental care provision to one based on quality rather than on activity and cost. Their experiences should help inform the implementation of NHS Dentistry: Options for Change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the results of a field test of Instant Update, a collaborative writing tool by a geographically dispersed department at the MITRE Corporation. Thirty-six participants were given Instant Update software and free training and support in exchange for their cooperation with data collection. These participants spent a great deal of time writing and communicating with each other about their written work. They began the pilot test with enthusiasm, using Instant Update for many types of documents and anticipating many benefits. After three months of experience they rated the actual benefits they received from the software lower than they had expected. Their usage became much more refined. They continued to use it for some types of documents, but stopped for others. The collaborative writing software was used successfully to create joint documents that have a consistent format and are produced on a regular basis (such as weekly activity reports) and for documents that provide access to shared information (such as a vacation calendar). It was used less successfully for the production of documents that require a complex work flow and have a changing group of contributors. We concluded that although collaborative writing is difficult to support and the currently available collaborative writing tools need to be improved before they can meet the needs of most co-writers, they are adequate for some types of tasks. Documents that are well defined and are created by experienced users who can cooperate well can benefit from the currently available tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001, research was carried out to investigate the views of dentists and professionals complementary to dentistry on their experiences as part of the personal dental services pilots. This article outlines the main messages from the survey. Before 1997, NHS general dental services could only be delivered by general dental practitioners via a national contract with a nationally negotiated scale of fees. The NHS (Primary Care) Act 1997 allowed for the voluntary establishment of personal dental services (PDS) pilot schemes to test alternative ways of delivering dental services, in particular general dental services, through local contracting arrangements. In the PDS scheme, the contract for dental services was agreed between the commissioners (health authority or primary care trust) and one or more providers of dental services. Since then, the involvement of professionals complementary to dentistry (PCDs) has become an increasingly important issue. This investigation seeks to shed some light on the effectiveness of attempts to integrate the dental team and improve the contribution made by PCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001, qualitative research was carried out to investigate patients' views on dental services, in particular personal dental services. This article outlines the main themes to emerge from these interviews. Before outlining the key themes, it is important to describe the background to the study. Prior to 1997, NHS general dental services could only be delivered by general dental practitioners via a national contract with a nationally negotiated scale of fees. The NHS (Primary Care) Act 1997 allowed for the voluntary establishment of pilot schemes to test alternative ways of delivering dental services, in particular general dental services, through local contracting arrangements.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]