Page 14 - RADC Bulletin 2021

DRPT on the Ground
DRPT Fort George
LCpl M Wilson, Dental Centre Edinburgh
In January 2021 the Dental Readiness Preparation Team (DRPT) deployed to provide dental treatment to the unit of 3SCOTS in Fort George, Scotland, for them to deploy on operations.
The team consisted of Maj Cheesbrough, Maj Marriott, Capt Milward-Wiffen, LCpl Larwood, LCpl Cacho, LCpl Wilson and LCpl Rai as well as Capt McBride, LCpl White and LCpl Rose as part of the set-up of the DRPT.
We were tasked to get the unit of 3SCOTS fit for deployment in a short timescale as the current dental centre at Fort George, which is a 1-chair practice, was closed. Therefore, in order to receive dental treatment 3SCOTS would have had to travel 40 minutes to the nearest dental centre at Kinloss which is a 2-chair practice and already very busy with other units. This meant the most effective way to get the unit fit for deployment was by using the deployed dental kit and forming a team to work together for the benefit of the patients.
Luckily outside the Officers’ mess at Fort George was a sheltered archway which made the perfect set up area to keep the tents out of the wind/rain/snow, whatever weather Scotland wanted to throw at us! Let’s just say on many occasions we had all 4 seasons in one day. So the shelter for the DRPT was definitely essential!! We had 5 tents in total, 2 set up as surgeries, 1 as the CSSD, 1 for the patient waiting area and 1 for an admin area for us. We also had access
to a lockable storage cupboard and laundry facilities outside the Officers’ mess which meant we couldn’t have chosen a better location if we tried.
The setup of the surgeries were easy to navigate and keep clean. Everything was in a wipeable condition and accessible to fold away and pack tightly. The Portable Dental Unit (PDU) was very effective and a very good design for us to carry out treatment on patients. We were very impressed with
the conditions we had to work in and the efficiency of the kit we had.
We were accommodated at the Marriott Hotel by Inverness airport for the duration since accommodation was limited. This was a great luxury to have after a long day of treating patients. As we were so far north
of the country we didn’t travel home and instead stayed at weekends; it was nice to explore areas of Scotland as much as we could, COVID-19 permitting. We went for a walk along the beach one weekend as the weather was beautiful and sunny which made it not look as cold as it was, but as soon as we got outside the cold wind made us remember it was winter. Luckily, we brought our hats!
The highlights of the DRPT were the teamwork and being able to successfully treat our patients in the conditions resulting from the COVID pandemic. The DRPT was so successful that we managed to get the overall dental stats for the unit to 90% which felt like a huge achievement for us all.
Another highlight was spending Burns
day in Scotland and making the most of it with Scottish treats like iron bru, haggis, neeps & tatties flavoured crisps, shortbread, iron bru humbugs and abernethy biscuits (pretty much sweet tea biscuits) along with a
playlist to boost the morale of the team and the patients during the cold winter days. We liked to keep morale up by finding
quirky names for things we were part of, like calling the deployed dentistry “Tentistry” and when we found certain parts difficult or intense, we would say “it was in-tents!”
Overall, the DRPT was a very successful month with us packing up the tents in Feb 2021. Taking the tents apart was much easier than putting it together and with the added help of 3SCOTS it was packed up and ready to go back to the Medical Regiment in no time.
As a recognition for our hard work the CO of 3SCOTS gave all of us his COs coin to say thank you for what we had done for the unit. We all felt honoured to be part of something like the DRPT and we all had a great
time using our military skills in a different environment from the dental centre and making the most of military camaraderie. We will cherish memories forever!
A Regional Managers perspective
WO2 C Boslem, RPM London South
The DRPT at RMAS was a unique task to support LS Region. There were additional layers of complexity related to workforce,
12 RADC BULLETIN 2021
DEPLOYMENT