ST HELENA GOVERNMENT
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR DENTAL OFFICER
INTRODUCTION
The island of St Helena, an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom (UK) is of volcanic origin
and covers 47 square miles in the South Atlantic Ocean. St Helena is over 4,000 miles from the
UK, 700 miles southeast of Ascension Island, and 1,700 miles from South Africa. The Island’s
total population is around 4,000 persons, about 25% of whom live in the capital, Jamestown.
The climate is kept mild and equable by the southeast trade winds and temperatures range from
14-32 degrees centigrade in the summer and 14-26 degrees centigrade in winter. The economy
is small and is mainly based on offshore employment, agriculture, fishing and more recently a
small but growing volume of tourism. Most commodities are imported and St Helena relies
heavily on UK Aid to support essential services and livelihoods.
St Helena currently has no airfield and therefore the only regular means of access to the island
is by sea, on the RMS St Helena which calls roughly 25 times a year, shuttling between St
Helena, Ascension, and Cape Town. In July 2010 the UK Department for International
Development (DFID) reaffirmed its support for a project to introduce access by air to St Helena,
This, however, is conditional upon St Helena’s commitment to opening the Island up to inward
investment and increased tourism. This commitment is set out in the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU). Under the MOU, SHG is committed to economic development and
creating an investment friendly environment on St Helena. The airport will greatly improve
travel to and from the Island, open up opportunities for sustainable economic regeneration and
ultimate financial self-sufficiency for St Helena.
The Governor is the most senior official in the St Helena Government (SHG) and he is
supported by the three next ranking officials ie the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary and
the Attorney General. Strategic decisions are in the main taken by the Executive Council which
is chaired by the Governor and comprises 5 elected Members of the Legislative Council and the
3 senior SHG officials as ex officio members. The Public Service comprises a number of
directorates each headed by a Director reporting either to the Chief Secretary, Financial
Secretary or directly to the Governor. Most of the directorates are also required to work with
one or more of the 8 Council Committees that comprise elected Members of the Legislative
Council. The Directorates are required to provide advice to, and take policy direction from, the
relevant Committees.
The dental health facility is located in Jamestown next to the hospital and public health building.
Dental health related prevention, health promotion (including dental hygiene promotion in
schools and screening annually of all pupils), treatment and care services are provided by the
dental team, comprising of one dental officer, three Dental Nurses and two Dental Technicians.
A small dental laboratory is located within the facility which can produce simple dental
prosthetics, including dentures, crowns and removable acrylic orthodontic appliances.
Brief Description
Dental Officer with responsibility for Dental Care.
Summary of Duties
1. The Dental Officer contributes to both the St Helena Health and Social Welfare Policy
and Strategic Planning goals and objectives, reporting on progress towards these goals
in line with contractual requirements.
2. The Dental Officer is required to provide dental care for the whole population
(approximately 4,000). The employee who fills this post must enjoy the challenges of
working independently and without access to specialist support. UK dental health
policies, guidelines and standards are adhered to as far as feasible in St Helena setting.
3. The post holder will be required to provide clinical services Monday to Friday, 08;30 to
16:00. Provision of a full time ‘out-of-hours’ urgent care service will also be required.
4. The Dental Officer is expected to co-ordinate oral health promotion in liaison with other
agencies of St Helena Government (SHG).
5. The Dental Officer will be expected to develop protocols and guidelines for clinical care
in consultation with the Senior Medical Officer/Clinical Director.
6. The clinical role includes providing a comprehensive but simple approach to the
management of all dental pathology. The ability to work in a multi-disciplinary
environment using the skills of medical, nursing and dental ancillary staff is expected.
7. The administrative role includes maintenance of comprehensive clinical notes and
electronic database for management of dental records and measuring dental service
productivity.
8. The Dental Officer is responsible to ensure regular stock control– and to ensure
adequate stock levels are maintained and limit wastage due to out-of-stock
drugs/supplies. Out-of-date stock to be appropriately destroyed in consultation with
senior medical officer
9. The dental officer is responsible to prepare/supervise routine quarterly drug/supply
orders from the Pharmacy as well as consider emergency orders in consultation with
senior medical officer
10. The dental officer is responsible to supervise/ensure a non-expendable equipment list is
maintained and kept up-to-date
11. The dental officer is responsible to routinely maintain dental equipment and report
malfunctioning, repair needs and/or maintenance requirements that cannot be performed
by the dental officer to Senior Medical Officer.
12. The dental public health role includes recording and analysis of dental epidemiological
data as to make recommendations on dental service development and provide
information on oral health status to SHG.
13. The management role includes management of a dental team of 5 dental ancillaries,
including the development/organisation of appropriate ‘continuing professional
development’ training. Training and guidance should also extend to include the Dental
Technician. Management of the team will include annual performance appraisals, mid
year reviews and regular one-to-one meetings to discuss progress against set objectives
as well as discussing, identifying and facilitating job and career related professional
development opportunities
14. The dental officer is required to operate the dental service within the budgetary
allowance.
15. The Dental Officer also contributes to the work of Health & Social Welfare Directorate in
general by attendance at regular meetings with senior colleagues and assist with
strategic business planning for the Dental Section.
16. The Dental Officer will also undertake related duties that may reasonably be asked of
the Officer by the Senior Medical Officer/Clinical Director or the Director, Health & Social
Welfare.
17. The need for maintaining school health programs and implementation of dental recall
system should be regarded as a high priority to improve general oral health. Dental
Indices scoring should be routinely recorded as a minimum for all children seen.
18. The Dental Officer is responsible for charting and/or supervising staff to input patient
treatment and dispensing medication on the EMIS system.
19. Minor operations including the removal of simple wisdom teeth under Local and General
Anaesthetic will also be part of the role.
20. Duties include providing scaling and periodontal prophylaxis for patients in the absence
of an Oral Hygienist.
Note: This summary of duties is intended only as a guide to the duties involved and may be
modified to meet changing needs. The employee will be expected to be flexible in his role and
responsibilities to enable the health services team to work together at its most effective.
Reporting
The employee will report directly to the Senior Medical Officer who will also be responsible for
the midyear and end of year performance assessments as well as the review and approval of
continuous professional development interests and needs
The employee should submit the following reports:
a) A monthly report on day-to-day activities of the dental section, including statistical data.
Report to be submitted before the sixth working day of each month and should detail
activity during preceding month.
b) Quarterly progress reports relating to activities included in the Directorate’s Strategic
Plan
c) An annual report: an overview of the activities during the previous year and progress
towards achieving strategic goals.
d) An end of contract completion report: a synopsis of activities during contract, outcomes of
activities and analysis of extent to which objectives have been reached. A draft version of
the report must be submitted before departure from the island and the final version
submitted within two weeks of return to country of origin.
Qualifications, Experience and Skills Required
Essential:
BDS and GDC Registration (or equivalent)
Substantial Primary Dental Care experience
Must be computer literate
Desirable:
Dental Public Health particularly epidemiology and oral health promotion.
Special Care dentistry including use of sedation and dental treatment under General
Anaesthetic.
Management of Dental Services.
Delivery of Primary Dental Care in varied cultural environments and isolated locations.
Contracting
The post holder will be contracted by the Government of St Helena. The contract will be for a
period of 2 years with the possibility of extension, subject to completion of a successful
probationary period of employment of up to 6 months. Starting date will be March 2012.