Dental Clinical Advisor

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Dental Clinical Advisor will play a vital role in supporting NHS dental commissioning through expert clinical advice, quality assurance, and stakeholder engagement. The role supports regulatory compliance, clinical governance, and the management of concerns around performance and complaints.

Core Duties and Responsibilities:

Clinical Advice & Assurance: Advise on NHS dental standards and support practices in achieving regulatory compliance, particularly around infection prevention and control (IPC), clinical governance, and service quality.

Performance & Complaints Management: Assist in the investigation and resolution of complaints and performance concerns, including record reviews, site visits, and interviews. Provide expert advice to NHS Professional Standards panels such as PPPRG, PAG, and PLDP.

Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a key liaison between dental practices and NHS bodies. Develop positive working relationships with general dental practitioners, local dental committees, ICB teams, regulatory organisations (GDC, CQC), Healthwatch, and public health teams.

Service Development: Support service planning and procurement of dental services. Contribute to national and regional policy implementation and guidance interpretation (e.g. NICE, NHS regulations).

Quality Improvement: Participate in and support the Dental Assurance Framework (DAF), including reviewing provider self-audits, clinical record reports, and action plans. Promote continuous improvement through performance monitoring.

Education & Support: Provide guidance and mentoring to clinicians in difficulty. Support professional development through peer review and training activities. Advise on National Performers List applications, especially for non-UK graduates.

Resource Management: Support clinical review of high-cost treatment requests (e.g. implants, orthodontics) and dental funding requests to ensure appropriate and evidence-based resource allocation.

Leadership & Representation: Represent ICBs at professional meetings, including those related to service quality and serious incidents. Provide dental clinical leadership on incident panels and infection control groups.

Key Skills and Qualities Required:

Strong clinical credibility and up-to-date knowledge of NHS dental care standards

Experience in NHS primary dental care, with insight into clinical governance

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

High integrity, objectivity, and sound professional judgment

Ability to work independently and collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams

Experience with performance management, audit, or regulatory processes is desirable

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• dental practitioner and have been on the national dental performers list and working as an NHS general dental practitioner for a minimum of 10 years.
• Have an understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this on engagement.
• Member of relevant professional bodies (GDC, BDA, dental indemnity organisation).

Desirable

• Understanding of Dental Foundation Training and NHSE Workforce Training Education.
• Have a working knowledge of how NHS dental services work, Compass and the e-reporting system
• Should have an appreciation of the relationship between the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, the ICBs, and individual providers.

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant professional or clinical qualification (British Dental Association (BDS)
• Educated to Masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area.
• Extensive knowledge of specialist areas, acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist knowledge or experience.
• understanding of all national and local regulations and guidance related to NHS dental services
• Knowledge of relevant clinical guidelines, standards, current policy and strategy documents

Skills and Attributes

Essential

• Highly developed communication skills with the capability to analyse, review and make sense of highly complex, sensitive or contentious information across a diverse range of subjects relevant to post portfolio.
• Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems in relation to project or service delivery.
• Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution.
• Ability to work without supervision, providing specialist advice to the organisation, working to tight and often changing timescales.
• Able to deliver against competing priorities and deadlines
• Able to travel to various sites across Yorkshire and Humber

Desirable

• Demonstrate experience in mentorship or coaching and difficult conversations.
• Conflict management skills.
• Relevant experience on developing and implementing clinical audit in primary dental care.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (857)

Address

NHS Humber and North Yorkshire

Integrated Care Board

1 Grimbald Crag Court

Knaresborough

HG5 8QB

Employer's website

https://humberandnorthyorkshire.icb.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)