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ePaper created 2016-07-20, 11:29:31 | version 1.38.0
05 Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition | 6/2016 UK NEWS Do you see any benefits of the Brexit for dentistry in the UK? Sinclair: There may be an op- portunity to standardise English language requirements, if we start recruiting more heavily from countries where English is the primary language of instruction. It may be argued that it could be easier to introduce people to the workforce and keep standards at a consistent level, but this is only speculation. Shah: From a competition point of view, there are potential bene- fits for local workers who through the influx of dentists and other professionals might have been less willing to work at a specific rate or found accessing work more com- petitive. At the individual level, some of the people in our existing workforce may be more likely to find work post-Brexit but I think migration of professionals will continue provided the UK remains an attractive place to work for people from the EU. There will need to be some arrangement which allows dental professionals to come to the UK. What aspects do you think will be important to consider in the upcoming negotiations with the EU regarding dentistry? Sinclair: We know that the NHS (not just dentistry) really benefit- ted from the flexibility of being able to recruit from other EU coun- tries, so ideally negotiators want need to establish a similar arrange- ment, even if it is a special visa for health care workers to come to the UK or work in EU countries. That seems to be a sensible thing to lobby the government on so that we do not lose that flexibility. It would not have a huge effect on general immigration either be- cause health care workers are only a small portion of net immigra- tion. The government does not have to fear that it would distort the figures too much and it would allow this very important section of the workforce to remain in the country. I expect that the public would support that, whichever side they are on in the whole de- bate. Shah: There certainly does need to be some sort of trade agreement for medical devices and health care products. Drugs will probably need to fall into a special category as we know a lot of medicinal drugs already move back and forth across the EU. Similarly there will need to be some rules for things as basic as data sharing between the UK and EU states, particularly in relation to offsite data backup that could often uses sites in other parts of the EU where space is often more affordable. One of the most important aspects is continued collaboration in respect of the public health agenda, which includes oral health. Broader public health initiatives do not necessarily need a formal agreement as it is unlikely that any single EU state will be affected. However, it is more likely that the region as a whole will be affected by issues relating to both general disease and oral diseases. There will need to be continued collabo- ration between dental and oral policy makers across the European region. Thank you very much for the inter- view. AD “...some of the people in our existing workforce may be more likely to find work post-Brexit...”