Working with Communities

16th November 2017
Cavendish Conference Centre, London

Even though the BASCD acronym includes ‘Community’in its title, as an organisation we seem to spend relatively little time considering the challenges of working at this level. Although multiple actions at different levels are recognised as necessary to address health inequalities, we seem to pay much more attention to the design
of downstream (clinical preventive activities) or even approaches to engaging in upstream activities (influencing policy), than to midstream actions including community engagement and development. However, evidence points to the midstream as being a conceptually appropriate point to intervene; and working with communities can be a feasible option too, when resources are tight. And so, I feel the time is right to focus on this area in November’s conference.

Scotland has led the way in this area, and so I’m especially delighted that Sir Harry Burns, a former Chief Medical Officer in Scotland is able to talk to us about co-production of health in Scotland. We also have lots of other great speakers to help us consider how we might apply this approach to improving oral health, as well as helping us answer the methodological challenges posed when trying to evaluate their impact. We have posters and members presentations too.