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.
We meet in January, March, June (with the AGM), September and December.
Chairman – Nimisha Patel
Vice Chairman – Radhika Chopra
Secretary – Farah Ramjohn ([email protected])
Treasurer – Paresh Patel ([email protected])
Maggie Andi
Bhumica Depala
Sunil Kakkad
Kinaree Patel
Shaunak Popat
Nisha Radia
Christian Small
We always welcome new members to the committee. Please contact Farah for further details.
Why Keep in Contact with Your LDC
– Ensure you are kept up to date with new regional guidance as it becomes available.
– Feedback your concerns to the local NHSE team and ICB.
– Feedback concerns to the BDA.
– A source of empathy and advice.
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. To access our peer review group on WhatsApp, please email the LDC directly at [email protected] with your name, practice address, GDC number and contact number, confirming that you consent to your contact number being shared with the peer review group. We will then add you.
– 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.