Congratulations to Dr Rakhee Patel, Dental Clinical Health Lead for North Central London, who has been appointed as Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England.
The Office of the Chief Dental Officer England represents the head of the dental profession in England, providing system wide professional and clinical leadership, by setting the strategic vision for England’s oral health. Dr Patel, who specialises in gerodontology and domiciliary care, will take up this position alongside her roles at North Central London and as a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at King’s College London.
Dr Patel will bring her professional knowledge and understanding of NHS dental care systems to her new role, maintaining momentum in the transformation of NHS dental services at a local and national level.
She said: “Oral health is a central part of a person’s overall health and wellbeing. I’m excited to be taking up this national role so that we can bring further improvements to people.”
Dr Patel has worked across Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Camden and Islington as a Consultant in Dental Public Health since 2016, with a focus on health protection, ageing well and supporting the ICB as our Dental Clinical Lead.
In this position, Patel led on the development of Dental Transformation and Collaboration networks, which bring together dental commissioners, teams and wider partners to shape collaborative, evidence-based and impact-focused programmes for patients in north London.
These have been developed with local authority public health and dental teams to take a whole-life approach with a variety of different approaches, including increasing oral care training in care homes, developing a dental care pathway with GPs for diabetic patients, and partnering with the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation to pilot an oral health and physical activity programme in primary schools.
Dr Patel said she felt her new national role was complementary to her other work, including locally within North Central London: “The proactive and innovative approaches taken by the North Central London ICB towards oral health are exemplary. I have had the privilege of working with forward-thinking commissioners, clinicians and academics across London who have come together to drive improvements for our local communities.
“I’m proud to be part of developing and delivering our vision for dental care, which support patients to prevent oral diseases and improves their oral health as part of their overall health.”
Dr Patel will be working alongside Jason Wong, MBE, Chief Dental Officer for England, and Professor Nick Barker, Deputy Chief Dental Officer, England.