Final reflections from Catherine Rutland
13 June 2025
By Catherine Rutland, Clinical Director at Denplan
Back in early 2020, we heard loud and clear from our members that there was a lack of the voice of mixed and private practice in government arenas. And while Denplan has always represented its members' voices in stakeholder engagement, at government level we decided we needed to do more.
If I am honest, it was a huge learning curve for me, building my understanding of how policy and lobbying worked, and certainly how government actually works! Not least with an already challenged dental sector, but full of opportunity too.
As I write this final blog for Denplan, I am extremely grateful to the many people, both internally and externally, who have patiently taught me on this subject and answered my many questions, and I am sure will continue to do so.
Our work started in earnest just before the first lockdown, and then, of course, as the pandemic took hold, we had to pivot. A membership survey at the end of 2020, followed by a roundtable of key people across the industry, gave us the insight to produce our first policy paper, The Future of Dentistry, in April 2021.
Following on from this, we worked with a group of our younger members to explore what the next generation of our membership saw as important. This led to a further policy paper, Attracting the next generation of dentists: lessons to be learnt from today’s young dentists, and a parliamentary reception to share their thoughts and concerns with MPs.
Meeting with MPs has been another learning curve for me. Having met 27 MPs one to one, but many others at events, it’s fair to say that some know lots about dentistry and others are curious to learn. They can be challenging and want solutions, and of course, question the position of patient plans. What I have seen over the last five years is an increasing desire from MPs for a balanced view, and for information wider than contract reform, to help them be part of any debates on dentistry. This is a welcome outcome, and hearing things we have written be repeated in debates, and Denplan mentioned, shows that this information is being absorbed and our members views heard.
I have learnt that with policy and lobbying work you need to be patient. Nothing happens quickly, and you have to hold strong to your beliefs, especially around longer term considerations, like prevention.
Catherine Rutland, Clinical Director at Denplan
Our most recent policy paper, The Future of Dentistry: Unlocking solutions to improve oral health, published at the end of last year, again built from a member survey, and also the information learnt from our patient survey. This mixture created a wider view of how the public and profession see dentistry. After holding another roundtable sponsored by Helen Morgan, Lib Dem spokesperson for Health and Social Care, in parliament in November 2024 we launched the policy paper to MPs.
As I move on from Denplan, I look back at this work and can see how far we have come. There will always be more to do, and more to say; the future of dentistry is yet to be secured. Mixed and private practice are a critical part of a sustainable healthcare system, and this needs to be kept at the forefront of governments mind.
As I have said so many times, and to many MPs, private dentistry is not cosmetic dentistry. What we know from our members is that so much of private dentistry is general dentistry, with often three generations of families attending a practice and prevention at its core. This cannot be forgotten, and must continue to be represented.