Attitudes in Wales towards hygienist-therapists

Key Points

• Provides evidence to inform workforce planning.

• Identifies potential barriers to the future employment of dental hygienist-therapists in general dental practice.

• Highlights a need to ensure that all members of the dental team understand the roles and responsibilities of colleagues.

Abstract

Aim

To examine the attitudes of general dental practitioners in Wales with regard to the employment of dually-qualified hygienist-therapists.

Design

Questionnaire.

Results

Responses were received from the principals of 332 of the 550 practices surveyed, a response rate of 60.4%. Fifty-four percent of responding principals currently employed a hygienist and 9% a dually-qualified hygienist-therapist; 43% considered that they were likely to employ hygienist-therapists in the future. Lack of surgery space to accommodate a hygienist-therapist was a problem facing many principals. Disappointingly, respondents demonstrated a clear lack of knowledge in relation to the cost effectiveness of hygienist-therapists, with 39% of principals admitting that this individual would be expected to spend more than half their working time on hygiene treatment. Sixty percent of principals placed an associate among their first three preferences to fill spare capacity, while only 28% selected a hygienist-therapist.

Conclusion

This study has provided local evidence to inform workforce planning and identified a need to ensure that all members of the dental team understand the roles and responsibilities of colleagues.

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