Agenda item

The Service Lead for Public Health, Dr Liz Brutus, presented a report that updated on the work underway to deliver improved oral health in Slough, particularly for children.

It was recognised that there were real challenges in Slough in terms of oral health and these issues had been set out in the report to the Panel in October 2018.  The report updated on the progress made subsequently on the various activities that were underway.  The “Slough Healthy Smiles” project was being provided by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust to upskill staff in early years settings in supervised tooth brushings and increase knowledge of good oral health provision.  The Healthy Smiles services had now been fully integrated into the “Active Movement” programme to promote wellbeing and the contract with Oxford Health had been extended to March 2020 at which point the service would be evaluated and reviewed.  The Public Health England Starting Well initiative worked with dental practices to provide an outreach programme in 6 Slough primary schools.  Funding had been secured to continue the programme for a further year and discussions were ongoing about which schools would be engaged in the next phase of delivery.  Other work included the recruitment of two coordinator posts to work in early years provision to tackle health and wellbeing and a health beliefs research project to better understand residents’ beliefs and attitudes to health to help design services and communications more effectively.

The Panel was supportive of the projects underway to address the oral health challenges and it was recognised they were linked more widely to both wellbeing and deprivation.  Members asked a number of questions including about the early impact of the schemes including the number of people attending the recent open day as part of the “Starting Well” initiative and whether any ward level data was available.  The prevalence of poor oral health was closely linked to deprivation and there were also particular issues with certain groups of people such as those with eastern European and south Asian backgrounds.  Members queried whether poor oral health in Slough was directly linked to a perceived lack of dentists, but it was reported that the uptake of dental appointments was considered to be more important than their availability.  There was a discussion about the role of Health Visitors and the potential for routinely providing dental appointments for children although the ongoing issue of uptake was noted.

At the conclusion of the discussion the report was noted.

Resolved –  That the update on oral health in Slough be noted.