Dentist Recruitment

Background

SA Dental is a health unit within the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.  We provide population health based dental services for children and eligible adults through clinics across South Australia in metropolitan and country areas. Some clinics are located in hospitals or community health centres whilst others are located in school grounds or are discrete dental facilities.   We also work in partnership with the University of Adelaide to educate and train many of the State’s dental professionals.

The Service consists of 2 clinical Divisions –

Adelaide Dental Hospital (ADH) –is a provider of specialist services and a centre for undergraduate dental education in South Australia in conjunction with the University of Adelaide.

Statewide Dental Services (SWDS) – provides dental services in the metropolitan and country areas of South Australia and is another key contributor to undergraduate dental students. The Division has two branches:-

• School Dental – all South Australian children (aged up to 18 years) are eligible for oral health care with the School Dental Service.
• Community Dental Service – provides eligible adults with a range of general, emergency and removable prosthetic dental services.  Adults (or their adult dependents) with a current Commonwealth government issued concession card are eligible to receive services.

Dentist positions

Dentists in SA Dental are classified under industrial Awards and Agreements.

• DO1 & DO2 - general dentists
• DO3 - among these are Senior Practitioner roles which have responsibility for clinical leadership and clinical staff development in geographic regions.
• DO4 – State wide Lead Clinician, Clinical Directors and Specialists
• DO5 - Chief Dental Officer and specialists
• The classification levels for Dentist positions are at the DO1 to DO5 levels. Within DO1 to DO3 levels there are a number of salary increments (annual increases within the classification band).

The starting classification and increment level for a newly qualified dentist is at the DO101 increment level. Dentists with 5+ years’ experience will be appointed at the DO105 increment level.

DO1 level dentists will be eligible to apply for the DO2 classification after satisfactory completion of probation and sustained achievement of clinical and business KPI’s over four consecutive quarters.

Recruitment

SA Dental recruits dentists 1-2 times a year (depending on staffing requirements) for the Dentist Candidate Pool. The recruitment process aims to find suitable candidates for permanent and contract dentist roles at the DO1 and DO2 levels to fill vacancies which can arise at any time. The candidate pool is explained on page 3.  Positions at the DO3 level and above are promotional roles which are advertised when a vacancy becomes available.  The selection process is merit based with candidates ranked in relative order of merit against the Position Descriptions.

Recruitment Process

Step 1 – Lodge Applications 

Step 2 – Reference checks

Step 3 – Interviews

Step 4 – Outcome (Successful or Unsuccessful)

Step 1 : Application

Dates for the next Dentist selection process

Open date:  Friday 10 September 2021

Closing date: Sunday 26 September 2021

Refer to the information on page 4 for information on the SA Health “Job Alert” system to keep updated on the release of any Dentist adverts.

Outline of the Dentist Candidate Pool   

• • SA Dental utilises the Dentist Candidate Pool to fill general dentist vacancies in the organisation
  • As staffing in any organisation is rarely static, vacancies can occur at any time. It is therefore useful to have a pool of candidates to directly approach who have been selected as suitable for employment (via a merit based selection process) to fill vacant positions. This is more efficient than having to conduct a separate selection process each time a vacancy occurs.
  • When vacancies arise the information (including location, description of the role, hours per week etc.) is circulated to the candidates in the pool.
  • All candidates in the pool are asked to indicate if they are or are not initially interested in the available role/s and are asked to respond within a 3 day timeframe.
  • Candidates who are not interested in a position remain in the pool for 12 months and continue to be notified of any available positions for which they can express interest.
  • For the group who indicated interest, careful consideration is given to match the vacancy to the skill and experience levels of candidates. Discussions commence with the highest ranked candidate.
    • After further discussion with relevant managers to provide more detailed information to assist candidates make a decision, if it is a role they would like to accept we arrange appointment to the position.
    • If it is a role they decide they are not interested in, the candidate remains in the pool as described above and the next ranked candidate from those interested is approached. This process is repeated until the vacancy is filled. 

Pre- employment

Candidates who accept an offer of employment will be sent the necessary pre-employment documentation to complete including the screening checks listed below. An offer of employment can only be confirmed if these mandatory checks are satisfactory.

• Health Care Worker Immunisation Screening – it is a requirement to provide the SA Dental Staff Health Nurse with documented evidence of immunisations and blood test results for immunity against a range of diseases.  Immunisation boosters may be required to complete the Pre-employment screening and gain a clearance to work with SA Dental.

• Working With Children Check – undertaken via the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion (DCSI).  National Police Checks are not sufficient to gain employment with SA Dental Service.

• Credentialing  -  All dental operators need to be credentialed before they can commence their clinical position. Credentialing is the formal process of checking

….“to verify the qualifications, experience, and professional standing of health care practitioners for the purpose of forming a view about their competence, performance and professional suitability to provide safe, high quality health care services “.

Dental practitioners are asked to provide certified copies of relevant documents to support the declaration made in their application form.

When these clearances are in place, a start date as well as arrangements for induction & orientation are confirmed which includes a clinical program, policy discussion and training in the Titanium system (patient charting, recording and appointing system utilised in SA Dental Service).

Recommended action

To keep updated on Dentist Selection processes we recommend registering for a “Job Alert” on the SA Health Careers website.

Log onto the SA Health careers website http://www.sahealthcareers.com.au/

• When the page is loaded, select the “Job Alert” button on the left hand side.
• Enter your email address
• Keywords : Dental
• Tick the following items to ensure all dental advertisements are drawn to your attention :

Categories : Select All    Locations :   Select All     Work Type : Select All

The job alert will last 90 days and the details can be updated if required.

As positions are advertised, registered users will be sent an email to their nominated email address which will then provide information of the positions available and will provide a link to the position’s online application form.