Dental Health Educator Services

DENTAL HEALTH EDUCATOR SERVICES

Note: Contact the Service Specification Programme Manager, National Health Board Business Unit, Ministry of Health to discuss the process and guidance available in developing new or updating and revising existing service specifications.

Web site address of the Nationwide Service Framework Library:

Dental Health Educator Services

MAOR0120

1Definition

Pre-school community based dental health education services are one of a number of services specifically aimed at improving the health of tamariki Maori, Pacific children and other children living in difficult circumstances. The service fits within the overall framework of dental health services in a locality. This specification gives details of the requirements of the Dental Health Educator Service. The service is community based and is for pre-school children.

2.Service Objectives

2.1Key elements

The purpose of this service is to improve the oral health status for those pre-school children identified as being in the priority groups. The service will work with other child health providers to ensure that dental health messages are consistent. The service will also work with individual families/whanau to facilitate early enrolment into the School Dental Service and monitor continuing access to that service. The service will primarily link to the School Dental Service providing care to decile one schools.

2.2 Maori Health

The service is expected to contribute to the reduction in health inequalities, the 13 priority Population Health Objectives, as well as the Maori health gain objectives, in particular, targeting services to impact on asthma, diabetes, injury prevention, smoking, hearing, mental health, oral health and immunisation, including violence prevention.

The Maori Health Strategy: He Korowai Oranga is referred to and Maori Health requirements are outlined in the General Terms and Conditions and Provider Quality Specifications. In addition the provider arm of the DHB is to develop and implement a Maori Health Plan that outlines how it will contribute to improving outcomes for Maori for the services contained in this service specification.

The Plan should include the following objectives as a minimum:

• How you will ensure that Maori utilisation is at least equal to the Maori population in the provider's catchment.
• How you will ensure your effectiveness and the acceptability and accessibility of services to Maori
• How links with primary care - general practice, community providers and Maori providers will be effective for improved outcomes in Maori health';
• How discharge planning and rehabilitation processes will meet the needs of Maori;
• Links with the DHB provider arm's Maori Health Plan and other contractual quality specifications, especially consultation with Maori.
• How these objectives will be monitored and measured for Maori health outcomes.

2.3Service objectives

2.2.1The aim of the Dental Health Educator service is to work with families/whanau to ensure that they understand the value of the School Dental Service, and to encourage and support them to access this service.

2.2.2The service will work to ensure that children are enrolled with the School Dental Service by the time they are 30 months. (The service will take ongoing responsibility to liase with the School Dental Service to maintain continuity of care.)

2.2.3The service will take responsibility to work with and provide training in consistent dental health messages for other child health services (particularly Tamariki Ora/ WCC providers).

2.4Service Users

The resources of the Dental Health Educator service are to be targeted to children in the priority populations and to Tamariki Ora/Well Child Providers working with these children, as well as dental therapists working in decile one schools. The number of children your service is related to, but not expected to be the same as, the numbers of children who access the Tamariki Ora/Well Child Facilitation Services. For information this is estimated to be:

• 30% of Maori and Pacific children
• 15% of other children.

It should be noted that although there are only nine decile one schools in the South Island, rurality has been added as an additional factor for the South Island.

2.5Quality Requirements

The service will be provided by appropriately qualified/experienced Dental Health Educators. Competencies of these staff will include:

• knowledge and/or experience of dental health care
• cultural competence within the community they are working in
• knowledge of and ability to promote good dental health practice
• networking skills and experience (both within the community and between health care providers)
• knowledge of adult teaching methods.

The service will be acceptable and accessible to children and their families/whanau.

The service will be work with other child health providers and the School Dental Service.

The Dental Health Educators will be trained by the School Dental Service (provision must be made for the training to be provided as a component of the service).

The Dental Health Educators will utilise the health promotion and Education resources available from the School Dental Service or the Ministry of Health.

2.6Service linkages

2.6.1Effective linkages will be established and protocols developed with the School Dental Service in order to ensure that there is continuity of care for children in the priority groups.

2.6.2Effective links will be established with other child health services and particularly, Facilitation Services, which will be able to identify those children who are not accessing the School Dental Service and to support those services to enrol children into the School Dental Service.

2.6.3The service will establish relationships with other child health services and provide education in dental health.

You will have written protocols and systems in place to facilitate these linkages.

2.7Staff Training – Disability, Violence and Abuse

Disability

Staff training must be given specifically in:

a)disability awareness to ensure disabled children and disabled carers are given appropriate access and support.

b)specific issues in the patterns and identification of abuse and interpersonal violence for these groups.

Violence/Abuse

Staff must have training in how to identify, support and refer victims of child abuse and interpersonal violence. The agency must have protocols in place to support staff in this intervention.

3.Reporting Requirements

3.1Purchase Unit and Reporting Requirements

*Ethnicity is recorded as perceived by the family/whanau. People may therefore perceive themselves as belonging to more than one ethnic group. Ethnicity is to be reported according to the following priority system: if perceived ethnicity includes:

• Maori, report as Maori
• Pacific, report as Pacific
• otherwise, report as Other

3.2Six-month Report

Within seven months of the contract start date, you must provide a one-off six-month narrative report describing progress of the service during the first six months. This report must include:

3.2.1Evidence that you have developed clear criteria for identifying children within your target community at highest risk of not accessing local School Dental Services.

3.2.2Evidence that you have established relationships and protocols with other providers, which will facilitate enrolment of children and maintenance in the School Dental Service.

3.2.3Evidence that you have provided dental health education services to other child health providers.

3.3Annual Reporting Requirements

Within one month of each anniversary of the contract start date, you must provide a narrative report which describes the progress of the service over the previous year. This report will include:

3.3.1The nature and extent of your relationships with other key providers in the area. Include outcome of relationships established, summaries of agreements and/or protocols developed and agreed.

3.3.2Brief report outlining general issues/highlights and concerns, etc.

3.3.3A brief description and analysis of trends within the service - eg, referral patterns success and failure rates, age of children at referral into the service, etc.

3.3.4Training needs analysis and planning undertaken to meet ongoing staff training needs.

3.3.5Provision of an annual outline detailing plans/intentions for the coming year, which are aimed at addressing the concerns identified previously.

3.4 Information to be held by the provider, available to the Ministry of Health on request

You are required to operate management and quality systems that enable you to record all significant activity undertaken within your organisation. This applies both to activity with individual clients, and to service development activity. Specific information you are required to keep includes the following:

• Chronological case notes for each client, to include source of referral, age at referral.
• Records of all relevant health education meetings with other providers, including time, date, place, attendees and summary of key items covered and outcomes.
• Progress report re the establishment of a “database” which shows all quarterly report information by ethnicity.
• List of staff employed and their qualifications, ie, by professional group such as community health worker, kaiawhina; plus notification of any changes to staffing/ qualifications during the previous reporting period.

3.5Dental Health Educator Services - Purchase Unit-Price/Volume

The service is to be purchased on the basis of a programme, which targets high priority pre-school children, and the other health providers working with these children, in your area.

High priority children are identified as the most disadvantaged children living within the catchment area of schools classified as Decile 1 by the Ministry of Education.

4.Financial and Services Reporting

Service Reports

The provider will report on service delivery and programme development progress using the performance indicators specified in the Schedules.

Financial Reports

The provider will supply the following financial reports to the Ministry of Health.

Monthly payments will be suspended if reports are not received by the due date.

The reports are to consist of an Income and Expenditure Account (accrued), Balance Sheet and a Cashflow Statement (not accrued).

Draft end of year reports (Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet) are to be supplied to the Ministry of Health within one month of the end of the financial year, ie, 31 July 2001. The provider will use its best endeavours to have audited end of year financial reports (Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet) supplied to the Ministry of Health within three months of the end of the financial year, ie, 30 September 2001.