Letters to the Editor

摘要

Dear Sir, I am responding to the article by Derek Watson: How elections have an impact on strategic planning in dentistry. When I served on the FDJ Editorial board, it was expected that Opinion articles would be evidence-based. Derek Watson's evidence is his extensive personal political experience, which is informative to read. However, there is one section that I think is open to challenge. He states: "After introducing a ham-fisted and overbearing inspection regime, the Care Quality Commission was so favourably disposed towards the ineffective Chairman of the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee [whom Derek Watson does not name] that it offered him ajob." My source tells me that he is now working for NHS England and providing much-needed expertise in the area of general dental practice. In what way was he ineffective? As a committee chair? As an advocate for GDP? As a representative of the BDA in the wider field? As an opponent of Government? As a dental politician? This opens up a wider debate about the role and effectiveness of our trade unions (i.e., the BDA and BMA), which Derek Watson has touched upon.