An independent commission has been established to examine the commissioning of oral healthcare in England and Wales. It will concentrate on four major areas of work including innovative and flexible commissioning, integration of primary care services, developing oral health in strategic health authority and primary care trust strategies and incorporating patient experience, including access, into commissioning.

The group will be chaired by Professor Chris Drinkwater, President of the NHS Alliance, and is expected to publish its final report in the summer of 2010. Launching the group, Professor Drinkwater said, 'The 2006 reforms of health service dentistry and the onus placed on primary care trusts to improve access to NHS care in the 2008/09 Operating Framework, alongside the challenges posed by the recommendations of the NHS Next Stage Review, mean that local commissioning is the big issue facing health service dentistry.'

The commission has been established as part of a major BDA project exploring excellence in local commissioning. It will include an audit of commissioning currently being undertaken by primary care trusts, an analysis of commissioning models and the production of a contracting toolkit.