Page 43 - RADC 2020

SDO PERSPECTIVE
I arrived in Oct 2019 after a short period of the SDO role being gapped, ready
to close the old centre, and move into the new centre. I was pleased to finally see a new build being built after being denied various infrastructure upgrades at several postings due to a mythical promised new build being planned! Building work was well underway and there was little evidence of pigs flying gracefully overhead so I was assured
it would actually be happening this
time. The team had been struggling along in a building with no heating or
air conditioning, two different types of dental chair, a shared office for the PM and receptionist with a shared phone line, a stores cupboard in a surgery, condensation running down the walls in the staff toilet and an intermittent internet connection! A new build was certainly overdue. It was certainly challenging
to start work with the team at this time; as every SDO knows, established staff are often apprehensive about a new boss, and in addition to this, they were leaving their beloved building and moving from a small and close-knit team of six
to a 12 chair new build with 20 new
staff and a looming CQC inspection to follow shortly after opening. Careful change management was required
and so the main effort was focused on training, disposing of old paperwork
and equipment, and preparing as much paperwork as possible prior to the move, to make it as seamless and stress free as possible for the staff. I’m astonished the laminator didn’t catch fire, it was working hard for 8 hours a day and anyone who
stepped foot in the centre was asked to laminate policies.
Lt Col (retd) Mick Roberts was the project lead for the contractor and was incredibly efficient, so much so, that
the date for the handover to DPHC was bought forward several times. This was great from a project management point of view but from the SDO point of view, rather stressful. In the end, we moved and opened after allowing ourselves one week to move. I would not recommend this for any future big moves as it was incredibly hard work. Sgt Lisa Thomas juggled multiple contractors and wrestled with setting up all the new printers and IT and snagging issues. We had a team of Amey contractors on site for two weeks to complete any snagging or minor jobs such as fitting hand soaps and notice boards without having to submit reams of paperwork and wait the obligatory
30 days for minor new works. It was
an insight into how easy life could be, but alas it was not to last, although we managed to get them to finish off all our jobs. As Louise notes above, we had just settled and the COVID-19 pandemic hit effectively pausing our work. We
are, however, all looking forwards to our return to work in our lovely new gold standard building, knowing that we
are working in really pleasant and safe working conditions.
We are all hoping to be back in situ asap, with new members of staff, building up to a nice, busy, much utilised dental centre. Hopefully, we will be back up
and running and carrying out routine treatment safely very soon.
all seemed to be going well. There were a few teething issues to start with. The odd leak, the odd toilet blockage (nothing to do with dental staff), however, it was all fixed pronto with an on-site team ready to help with snagging. The lift managed to break down after only two days. I am sure it was because we had overused it with all the cardboard and equipment.
We were soon getting used to working
in such a lovely environment. The building had incorporated a calm atmosphere that was designed to put patients at ease, a very light and airy atmosphere with lots of seating in the waiting areas, and lots of light flooding in from a wall of windows. It was a truly beautiful huge space. It was designed to be contemporary, light and open to help promote the patient’s health and well-being.
The staff room, conference room, and changing areas were shared with the Medical Centre which made for a lot of interesting and vibrant conversations at lunchtime with a whole host of interesting locum GPs, permanent GP’s, pharmacy, and nursing staff who were all doing a fantastic job.
We started to sort out displays in the waiting room and notice boards to get everything into its place. We enjoyed having lots of room to have training days and practice meetings, using the new exciting kit, and having a lovely warm area to work in after having no heating in the old building for the previous two years due to the boiler breaking down. We really didn’t know ourselves.
We were just settling into a nice rhythm having found our place and getting new staff in when a worldwide pandemic was suddenly upon us. Suddenly our reserves of PPE started to run dangerously low. Anyone who tried ordering boxes of face masks in mid-March 2020 will know it was nigh on impossible. Every dental manufacturer was out of stock.
We sadly had to close the doors on our beautiful new build and become a regional hub at Tidworth to see emergencies
initially then slowly coming back to routine treatment and PDI’s of deploying personnel, with the correct PPE in place including the FFP2 and FFP3 masks and “CSI” looking suits. Something very new to all.
Old build about to be destroyed
New build!
RADC BULLETIN 2020 41