Over the last eight years the Government has made a significant reinvestment in child and adolescent oral health services to create the Community Oral Health Service (COHS).
The Ministry commissioned the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) to undertake an evaluation of the reorientation of child and adolescent oral health services. The ESR evaluation had three aims:
- to determine the effectiveness of the reinvestment programme, including business case development and the implementation process
- to identify barriers and enablers associated with the reinvestment programme
- to make recommendations to support ongoing implementation.
Overall, the report is positive about the implementation of the reinvestment programme to date. It confirmed that the new model of care had resulted in improvements in the quality, experience and outcomes of oral health services. The evaluation report also made a number of recommendations to enhance the COHS.
Methodology
The evaluation process involved:
1. Documenting an intervention logic which sets out the changes to the child and adolescent oral health services are intended to reduce inequalities and improve oral health outcomes.
2. Undertaking case studies of the business case development process and implementation.
3. Engaging with QIG to gain a Māori oral health provider perspective on business case implementation and impacts for Māori.
4. Drawing on (1) to develop, pilot and administer surveys to all COHS clinical teams and service managers/clinical directors, a purposeful sample of parents/caregivers, and all Well Child/Tamariki Ora providers to assess the extent that the reorientation has achieved a number of impacts.
5. Drawing on (1) and (2) to develop in dialogue with RGG and sector stakeholders an understanding of what has enabled or hindered the reorientation of child and adolescent oral health services.
6. Making recommendations to support the ongoing implementation of the new model of care associated with COHS.
7. Developing a self-evaluation tool to support COHS decision makers to continuously improve the way in which services are delivered.
Key Results
Business case development process and implementation
Two case studies were undertaken to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the business case development process and implementation. These were Northland and Canterbury COHS because they had contrasting demographic profiles, levels of clinical need and models of service delivery, but like other COHS had concerns including dental therapist recruitment and retention, access issues, and facilities that did not meet legal/professional standards.
Strengths
Common perceived strengths related to the business case development and implementation were clear vision, strong clinical leadership, ability to build on and leverage existing relationships, supporting resources including facility guidelines, and the pragmatic way in which the Ministry of Health worked with COHS to address any issues.
Weaknesses
Common perceived weaknesses related to the business case development and implementation were separation of business case development from the operational ‘realities’, the lack of community and Māori engagement, difficulties in translating training into practice, underestimation of the scale of change for staff, and lack of clarity surrounding the relocation of staff to new facilities and the new model of care.
Innovations and on-going challenges
A number of local innovations were also noted including setting up call centres and 0800 numbers to enhance access, focus on preschool enrolments including creating better links with maternity services, active case management of high-need children referred for general anaesthetic, piloting dental assistants to apply fluoride varnishes, and approaches to change management including mechanisms to ensure two way flow of information between clinical staff and management. On-going challenges centred on strengthening the focus on reducing oral health inequalities, increasing preschool engagements, enhancing access for ‘hard to reach’ populations, action to address the levels of not attended appointments (Did Not Attend), sustainability of facilities, staff recruitment and retention and increasing staff understanding of the new model of care and ability to engage with parent/caregivers.
Impacts associated with the COHS implementation
Improved and equitable access
The findings from parent/caregiver survey indicate that those parents and caregivers who responded to the survey did not find the location and timing of the appointments a barrier to access. However, of those few who responded to the survey but had not attended an appointment with their child, work and other commitments were cited as a reason. Whereas the majority of the clinical team respondents disagreed, and did not think that the location of the facilities or hours of operation had improved access to care for those with the greatest need, given a number of access barriers. In contrast to the clinical teams, most clinical directors/service managers held the view that the COHS provided greater access to care for those with greatest need. Well Child/Tamariki Ora providers mostly found it easy to refer a child to a COHS although a number found the quality of feedback from the COHS to be non-existent and/or inadequate.
However, a review by the Ministry of Health of clinic locations noted that the population-weighted median distance to a clinic site is roughly half a kilometre in the most deprived quintile, compared to over a kilometre for the least deprived quintile. Also, 90% of children in the most deprived quintile live in mesh blocks that are less than 1.8 km from a clinic site, while the corresponding distance for the three least deprived quintiles is over 5 km. This confirms that the siting of clinics has achieved its goal of improving accessibility for children in lower socioeconomic areas.
Family/whānau involvement
Nearly all clinical team respondents felt they could confidently work with family/whānau to achieve good oral health practices in the home, although less than half of clinical team respondents felt that parents/caregivers understood what was expected of them. Most of the clinical director/service manager respondents saw family/whānau as central to the new model of care and most of the Well Child/Tamariki Ora provider respondents said they could confidently communicate messages about the importance of family/whānau involvement to parents and caregivers. The main reasons cited by parents and caregiver respondents for attending appointments were to ‘support my child’, ‘be involved in my child’s care’ or ‘support how we care for teeth at home’ which showed parents were engaged in their child’s oral health care. Some parents/caregivers reported that they did not receive information on tooth brushing, food and drink choices, dental care and how to access oral health care. However, feedback from the RRG and sector stakeholders indicated that this finding might be due to the fact that clinical teams would only expect to give information out on one or two of these at an appointment but not all of them. Nearly all parent/caregiver respondents held the view that attending the appointment was a good use of the time and their expectations were meet.
Effective utilisation of people and plant
The clinical team respondents were mostly satisfied with the layout and standard of the new facilities. The majority of clinical director/service manager respondents thought the staffing level and skill mix was right and that there was enhanced team work (as did the clinical team respondents), although clinical director and service manager respondents differed on the extent, they agreed that the new model provides greater clarity of dental team roles.
The reinvestment programme has been a considerable change for most of the COHS staff, who for some, have worked by themselves and in charge of their individual clinics for over 40 years to working in teams and in multi-chair fixed clinics and mobiles. This has included loss of some autonomy and learning new clinical skills and also other new skills such as driving mobile vans and for some a change in work hours. Parent/caregiver participation in appointments has been another challenge for some staff as they have had to develop new skills engaging parents as well as the children.
Improved prevention and early detection
The majority of the clinical team respondents reported an increase in the delivery of preventative care stating they were seeing more preschoolers than before the reorientation (nearly all clinical directors/service mangers believed this was the case). The Ministry of Health data does show that preschool enrolment numbers have increased from 43% of the eligible population prior to implementation to 73% enrolled at December 2013. The clinical team respondents did not all agree that they were placing a greater focus on care for ‘at risk’ children. In terms of clinical practice, clinical team respondents considered they were using radiographs and fluoride varnishes more than they were two years ago, but were less convinced they were using fissure sealants and motivational interviewing more. The vast majority of clinical director/service manager respondents held the view that the new model of care provides improved detection of dental caries and increased delivery of preventative care. Almost all Well Child/Tamariki Ora providers could confidently undertake a ‘Lift the Lip’ assessment and confidently communicate key oral health messages.
Standardisation of clinical practice
Most of the clinical team respondents considered that their team was motivated to practice evidence-based dentistry, the new model of care provided greater consistency of clinical practice as well as a culture that values learning and quality improvement, and the facilities supported professional codes of practice. There was a perception of some clinical team respondents that resourcing issues impacted on the availability of dental assistants was limiting the practice of hour handed dentistry.