Members of the NOHPG recently attended the Homeless and Inclusion Oral Health conference, a conference with an audience made up of multi-professional groups.
The idea of the conference was to raise awareness of the oral health implications of homelessness and social exclusion and to highlight local initiatives around the country for marginalised and vulnerable people. The theme was ‘how to take action for inclusion”
The day features keynote speakers including:
- Janine Doughty (Doctoral Research Fellow, National Institute for Health Research and Crisis at Christmas dentistry deputy service organiser)
- Professor Andrew Hayward (Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Inclusion Health Research)
- Martin Burrows (Healthy Mouths, Groundswell)
- Professor Ruth Freeman (Professor of Dental Public Health Research, Hon Consultant in DPH, University of Dundee)
- Janet Clarke, Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England.
There were nine workshops to choose from, with practical, action-focused advice to drive forward inclusion oral health in clinical practice and research.
Topics included:
- How to deliver oral health promotion for people experiencing social exclusion
- Working with Adverse Childhood Events and patients who have experienced trauma
- Designing community dental services for people experiencing homelessness
- Managing medicine in dentistry for people experiencing social exclusion
- Working with Experts by Experience
- Setting up health outreach with people experiencing social exclusion
- Research co-production with Experts by Experience
- Integrating social inclusion into the dentistry curriculum
- Cultivating social responsibility in general dental practice.
A key take home point was that all the letters after your name mean you are an academic, but humanity is more important. The pledges were a great idea to add to this sentiment. As Chair of NOHPG I added “lets not define these vulnerable people by their circumstances, but rather look at ways to offer help”. This conference is followed by the Homeless & Inclusion Health:service standards Launch.