Page 28 - RADC Bulletin 2022

DEPLOYMENT
DRPT Chepstow
Maj D McBride
The latest iteration of the DRPT took
place in Beachley Barracks, Chepstow for 1RIFLES in April to May 2022. 1RIFLES, having returned from Op TOSCA, had a very quick turnaround before 3 months in Kenya validating to go onto high readiness. The high tempo of the unit and tight schedule meant they had a two-week window to get most of the unit through medical and dental pre-deployment checks. The dental centre itself was not able to provide this surge as the SDO had recently left post and the team from Innsworth Dental Centre had been temporarily located to Chepstow while their dental centre underwent a refurb. Leaving a ratio of 1 dentist to approximately 3500 patients. The only viable option for a dental surge was a DRPT.
As with Weeton previously, DRPT Chepstow had a DPHC lead with equipment and some personnel being provided by
Fd Army. Due to the stretched nature of
so many units the tasking drew on every corner of the AMS to fulfil the requirement. Equipment provision came from 4 Armd Med Regt and the team of 5 dentists and 6 nurses came from DPHC NIWW, 16 Med Regt, 1 Armd Med Regt and 1 Reservist DO from
254 Med Regt. The DRPT was completed over a duration of 4 weeks, consisting of a 3 day set up, 2 weeks of clinical work and a 3 day close. Over the clinical weeks there was a total of 298 appointments across
the 2 surgical tents which provided a full suite of appointment types including PDIs, restorative and endodontics. The structure of the DRPT was similar to the 5-tent set
up of Weeton with a CSSD, 2 surgeries, administration tent and patient waiting area. It was also able to make use of the firm base dental centre power supply with extension cables after an assessment by the 1RIFLES LAD electrician and a fire inspection by the unit SHEF lead.
For the first time on a DRPT a reservist Dental Officer was part of the DRPT tasking. This provided an invaluable learning opportunity for reservist training with the deployed kit and was the first time a reservist had used the kit live on patients. This was possible as they are also a DPHC CDP so are in date for their CQAA and familiar with DMICP so it was just a case of having a DRPT specific induction and getting to work. It also provided an opportunity for a visit from other reserve Dental Officers to see the kit in action and
have a tour of the facility once set up. This was an invaluable opportunity to avoid the first time that they see the kit being on operations.
DRPT Chepstow was also the first time a DRPT has had the individual Dental Officers using their Windows 10 personal issue laptops for all clinical delivery, as opposed
to loaning Windows 7 laptops from Lichfield. This was possible with the recent addition
of DDI and Gendex to our laptops. It was a seamless process of the DOs registering the Gendex sensors prior to arrival and from day one we had no issues that you don’t face when working in any DPHC firm base facility.
In the end the effect was as successful as all previous DRPTs. We had fantastic ‘buy-in’ from 1RIFLES which facilitated a reduction of Cat 4s to 3.8%, Cat 1+2s at 92.3% and treatment need index comfortably below the 375 target. The DRPT proved itself to be a useful tool, when appropriate, to assist busy units in their preparations for operations. But also as a fantastic opportunity for our people, regular and reserve, to get the experience needed to best prepare us for future operations.
26 RADC BULLETIN 2022