Andover, Hampshire,
20
March
2017
|
10:46
Europe/London

Simplyhealth dedicated to making a difference to child dental health

Simplyhealth is delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with national child dental health improvement programme, Teeth Team, providing school children with support, information and advice about how best to look after their teeth and oral healthcare.

Simplyhealth exists to help people make the most of life through better everyday health. This includes making a difference to the dental health of children across the UK, including a focus on those who are in greatest need in the most socially deprived areas, where the risk of dental disease and dental neglect is highest.

As part of the partnership, Simplyhealth is investing £137,000 into the dental programme to help Teeth Team further expand the initiative across the country, supporting thousands of children in nursery and primary schools with taking better care of their dental health.

Teeth Team, set up in 2010 in Hull, works to improve the oral health of children in socially deprived communities and areas of the UK. The investment and support from Simplyhealth will enable Teeth Team to continue its work and roll out its programme to an additional 50 schools during 2017. In addition, Simplyhealth Professionals and its member dentists will be proactively involved in delivering the programme and supporting schools directly as it expands.

With corporate giving at the heart of the organisation, Simplyhealth is passionate about supporting like-minded, health-related charities and organisations that are dedicated to helping people make the most of life through better everyday health. In 2017, Simplyhealth continues its pledge to donate 10% of pre-tax profits to health-related charitable causes.

Roger Cotton, Head of Charitable Giving at Simplyhealth, said: “This programme is a great opportunity to provide hard evidence showing how effective ‘prevention’ is to better oral health amongst five- to nine-year-olds. In the longer-term, as the project expands, we hope that this growing evidence can support the lobby of government, encouraging it to use a percentage of the savings created by Teeth Team to help the NHS fund further expansion of the project to other areas and schools.”

In the last two years, Teeth Team has recorded a reduction of 19.8% in local children experiencing dental extractions under general anaesthetic. The oral health survey for five-year-old children 2014-15 in Hull, carried out by Public Health England Survey (DPH), recorded an improvement from 43.4% to 37.8%.

Chris Groombridge, Chair of Trustees for Teeth Team, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this momentous support and investment from Simplyhealth to our charity. To be working in partnership on this level means that moving forward we can expand the programme into scores of new schools in other areas of need and continue to make a real different in child oral health.“What is important about this partnership is that it’s not just financial – it is a commitment to the charity on other levels and grows our network of support as we push to take this essential programme national.”

Last month Teeth Team won the Outstanding Innovation Award 2017 from the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD). The programme was described as “excellent” and a “clear winner” by the BSPD Executive judges and as the prize the charity will present to the Annual Conference and Scientific meeting to be held in Manchester in September.

Henry Clover, Director of Dental Policy at Simplyhealth Professionals, added: “We are incredibly excited about being involved with Teeth Team. Alongside Simplyhealth, Simplyhealth Professionals is ideally placed to provide practical, proactive support through our member dentists, some of whom will have the opportunity to visit these schools and help children understand the importance of preventive oral health care through the Teeth Team programme.”

ENDS

 

Notes to Editors:
About SimplyhealthIn the world of healthcare, more than anywhere, experience counts. Since 1872 – long before the existence of the NHS – Simplyhealth has been helping people to make the most of life, by managing their everyday health needs. That’s why today we ensure over 3 million people in the UK have access to the health products, services and support that they need, when they need them and at a price they can afford.

We’re the kind of people who live by our purpose: we’re here to help people make the most of life through better everyday health. We’re proud to be the leading provider of everyday health cash plans, dental payment and pet health plans. And whilst we may be 144 years old, we’re not afraid to innovate. Whereas once we were known purely for cash plans, we now offer a wide range of products and services with one thing in common: an unflinching desire to cater for peoples’ everyday health needs – now and into the future.

We exist to help people make the most of life through better everyday health. That’s our purpose. We use charitable partnerships to also deliver that purpose, going beyond our products and services, but very much aligned to our business strategy. As a result of our success, in 2016 we were able to donate £1.7m to our charitable causes, supporting 23 different charities including Revitalise, Music in Hospitals, Brainwave Centre and Auditory Verbal, touching the lives of thousands of people across the UK.

Our future success and performance will enable us to deliver our ongoing pledge to donate 10% of our profits to charity every year, supporting health-related charities that share a similar outlook to us and a dedication to helping people with everyday health challenges make the most of life.

Simplyhealth is a trading name of Simplyhealth Access, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

For further information about Simplyhealth please contact:
Elisa MirraCommunications Specialist
0344 579 2394
Elisa.Mirra@simplyhealth.co.ukwww.simplyhealth.co.uk.

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