Dental hospitals across the UK and Ireland have reorganised into the Association of Dental Hospitals, which works to provide a voice for dental hospitals. The Association comprises 18 dental hospitals or academic clinical facilities, all of which deliver the mixture of clinical service, teaching and research that is fundamental to the future of dental healthcare.

By reorganising into this new structure, dental hospitals will be able to combine their expertise to meet the challenges of an evolving profession.

The Association of Dental Hospitals has now come under the same umbrella as the Dental Schools Council and Association of UK University Hospitals, among other organisations. These connections will provide a stronger voice for dental hospitals and will facilitate closer working, both between dental hospitals and with partners across other sectors and areas of healthcare.

Dental hospitals will continue to work with their dental school partners to help ensure the future of the workforce by providing high-quality training for dental students. The Association of Dental Hospitals aims to foster closer relationships with partner organisations with the ultimate goal of improving patient care.

Dr Avril Macpherson, Chair of the Association of Dental Hospitals and Clinical Director at Liverpool University Dental Hospital, said: 'The Association of Dental Hospitals provides an opportunity for colleagues to learn from each other. One of the ways we have been doing this for the past five years has been through a Clinical Effectiveness meeting, held annually in Manchester, where problems and solutions in clinical practice at dental hospitals are shared. We are delighted to have the means to cooperate at a national level and make use of the membership's significant breadth of knowledge'.

The Association of Dental Hospitals is steered by an Executive Committee, which is elected according to its Constitution. Member organisations are represented by their clinical director and the senior non-clinical manager of the dental hospital.

www.dentalhospitals.org.uk