Miss Ciara O'Kane
Ciara is a dentist working within the primary care dental service in Bristol. She graduated from Queens University Belfast in 2014 and embarked on a varied career within dentistry. Starting out in NHS general practice in Edinburgh, she then moved on to work as a dental core trainee in Glasgow Dental Hospital for 12 months within the restorative department and community. After completing her first two years of postgraduate training and successfully passing her MFDS examinations, she decided to move to the Southern Hemisphere to continue her clinical work. After completing a year in general practice in New Zealand, she moved to Melbourne to work within the dental emergency services and community health in Melbourne Dental Hospital and within the prison dental service in Victoria. Following this, she returned to the UK to work within the primary care dental service treating special care adults, children and providing sedation services.
Throughout her career, she has had a passion for prevention and oral health education in order to reduce dental heath inequalities. In 2021/2, she was the regional trainer in the South West for the National Dental Epidemiology Programme. The aim of this programme is to measure the prevalence and severity of dental decay across the country and use this data to inform local authorities of treatment need and improve oral health strategies. Alongside this, she is a clinical advisor for the Oral Health Promotion team within her trust who provide oral health education and training to vulnerable groups within the local community.
Reason for applying for the scheme
During her years working within clinical dentistry, Ciara has developed a passion for sustainability within healthcare. She is a sustainable advocate within her trust and just completed her first year of a MSc in Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing.
Climate change is one of the most pressing problems of our time, it affects everyone, and Ciara is aware health professionals have a particularly important role to play. Without taking urgent action, we are at risk of causing further irreversible damage to our planet and public health. She believes healthcare professionals have a responsibility to help make healthcare systems more sustainable whilst keeping the overall health and wellbeing of our patients the shared goal.
Ciara sees this scheme as an incredible and unique opportunity to learn from the leaders within this field of sustainability in healthcare. She hopes it will allow her to gain invaluable skills and knowledge to drive changes within her own trust and profession in the future.
This scheme provides the opportunity to collaborate with professionals outside of her scope of practice which is incredibly important as for the NHS to be successful in its goal of Net Zero it will require all elements of the NHS to work together. She is passionately committed to helping the NHS achieve its goal of being the world’s first Net Zero Health Service.
