Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

W orking in a busy den- tal practice can some- times become hectic, how often do you have a rota and have to redo it as suddenly you are short staffed due to ill- ness etc. It’s at these times when you wish you had an extra pair of hands. Yes we have the support of agencies but this comes at a fi- nancial cost. Induction A good induction programme will benefit both parties. How- ever with agency staff although you will give an overview of what is expected it is not in depth as there isn’t the time, that nurse is required in surgery to cover at short notice so if you haven’t the time to do a full induction and having just done an overview who’s at fault if something goes wrong? During last winter the viruses struck and at one point we had several staff off sick at the same time which meant juggling clinics, finding relief staff who obviously are un- sure where anything is (which can add even more pressure to the day). We worked through it but it did make me think of an al- ternative suitable back up. There’s nothing worse than having to cancel a list especially due to staffing shortage, this should never happen. Normally patients will accept illness or cir- cumstances happen, however I found myself in this position only a few weeks ago. The reason for cancelling was a parental be- reavement to one of the dentists even in this sad circumstance but a couple of members of the pub- lic weren’t amused. So cancelling due to staffing problems is not a good idea. In the past if we have a va- cant post I would advertise and employ a qualified nurse suitable for the position. The advantage of this is the qualified part and also it delivers a service to the patients and it maintains the cur- rent staffing levels. Even though staffing levels are fine, an ex- tra pair of hands is always wel- come which is why I decided to look at employing an apprentice nurse. My reason for this was although at that point we were fully staffed, if we could train an apprentice from scratch they would work to our protocols and hopefully quickly adapt. I personally think that if a young person has already enrolled at College for the dental nurse course that shows they already have an interest; the requirement is they enrol but then need to find a placement. At the time of writing the cost to the practice is £2.60 per hour for employees aged 16 – 18, there is a slight increase coming in October. This rate is not set in stone and can be increased at the discretion of the practice. 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