Who We Are
The Barnet Local Dental Committee (BLDC) is a statutory NHS body representing general dental practitioners working in the North London borough of Barnet. LDC memberships includes dentists with a GDS contract, and other NHS contracts by arrangement.
The LDC constitution is a locally specific legal framework, its template formulated by the British Dental Association and accepted by NHS England.
The Committee
We encourage local dentists to attend committee meetings. The committee is a valuable source of information, and meetings are friendly and informative. We host five meetings a year, with an AGM held in June.
Chairman – Krupa Rughani
Secretary – Alan Ross ([email protected])
Treasurer – Paresh Patel ([email protected])
Maggie Andi
Radhika Chopra
Bhumica Depala
Sunil Kakkad
Kinaree Patel
Nimisha Patel
Shaunak Popat
Nisha Radia
Farah Ramjohn
Christian Small
We always welcome new members to the committee. Please contact Alan for further details.
What We Do
As well as providing contractual advice to our constituents, we actively represent them and communicate their concerns at a local, regional and national level. We are there to inform local practitioners of local and national issues, such as contract reform.
During the pandemic the advice and help of the LDC was sought like never before, offering help and advice to both NHS and private practices alike. Zoom meetings organised by committee members were extremely valuable.
Furthermore, the LDC managed to source and collate vaccinations for all of the dental team, well in advance of the roll out from NHS England.
Some of the services we offer include:
– Advising local dentists
If there is a problem we cannot solve, we can point you in the right direction.
– CPD events
Our CPD events are free of charge events held in February, which is usually a core subject with a well known speaker for all of the dental team and one in November which is mainly for clinicians.
– Networking opportunities and mentoring
– PASS Scheme
The Practitioner Advice and Support Scheme (PASS) is designed to provide local dental practitioners with impartial support when facing challenges associated with their professional lives. The scheme has been developed so that it can provide different levels of dedicated support that is relevant to individual dentists who may access the scheme. PASS will enable participants to make appropriate changes and thereby introduce a programme of developmental activity that is tailored to address their needs.
– Peer review groups
This informal group has been highly successful during the pandemic with useful Zoom meetings allowing us to share information and documents. Please contact Christian Small, the group admin on [email protected] to be added.
– Individual contractual advice
– Symposiums
Our symposiums – our annual symposium is named after the late Trevor Payne who was a stalwart of local and national dental politics. Recent topics include disinfection and decontamination in the COVID-19 era, safeguarding, radiography, medical emergencies, compliance, law and ethics. Minimally invasive dentistry and the periodontal restorative interface have been our two clinical topics.