Scotland's oral health plan consultation: analysis of responses

Public Engagement

Whilst we recognise that the consultation document was largely relevant to dental professionals, and indeed the majority of the responses to the questionnaire were received from dental professionals, it is vital that views of the public are also considered and taken into account when developing the Oral Health Improvement Plan.

Scottish Health Council

With this in mind, the Scottish Health Council was commissioned to deliver a series of patient focus groups across the country. A total of 113 members of the public took part in focus groups, face to face interviews and by completing questionnaires.

Discussions and questionnaires focused on the key proposals which are relevant to the wider public, including oral health inequalities, a preventive care pathway and patient charges.

The findings from this exercise are available on the Scottish Health Council's website at: http://www.scottishhealthcouncil.org/publications/gathering_public_views/oral_health.aspx

Our Voice Citizens Panel

Through our engagement with the Scottish Health Council we were also provided with the opportunity to include the first question from the questionnaire in the first 'Our Voice Citizens Panel' questionnaire.

The panel provides a source of public opinion on health and social care issues. The questionnaire was sent to the 1291 members of the panel with 617 responses received.

The findings are available at: Our Voice Citizen's Panel Report.