Retired Chief Dental Officer
Course: BDS, Dentistry, 1973
Barry may be of interest to students of Dentistry, Dental Hygiene, Biomedical Materials Science and other medical and health related courses.
Barry retired as Chief Dental Officer in early 2015, following that he was a non-executive director at UK Corporate provider of dentistry ‘MyDentist’, (Formally Integrated Dental Holdings) until August 2021. Barry has been Chair of the British Fluoridation Society since December 2020.
Barry Cockcroft qualified from Birmingham Dental School in 1973. In his final year he won the Charles Green prize for Minor Oral Surgery and Anaesthesia.
Post-qualification, he spent a year as Senior House Officer in the Maxillo-Facial/Orthodontic department at the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. He then worked for 27 years in NHS general dental practice before joining the Department of Health as Deputy Chief Dental Officer (England) in November 2002.
Prior to Barry’s appointment as DCDO he had served on the Warwickshire Local Dental Committee, including terms as chairman and secretary, being chairman of the West Midlands Association of LDCs and was elected to the General Dental Services Committee of the BDA in 1990.
From 1997, he was the clinical lead in developing and running a first wave Personal Dental Services pilot in Rugby which was based on capitation as a method of remuneration in NHS general practice.
He served on many sub-committees and working groups of the GDSC before being elected vice-chairman in 2000.
In 2001 he led one of the Task Groups which formed the basis of the Options for Change report, the policy document which formed the basis of the 2006 reforms.
Barry became Acting CDO in 2005 and was appointed Chief Dental Officer in 2006.
In 2005/6 he worked with his then deputy, Tony Jenner, to develop, with partners from the profession, the first ever evidence based guide to prevention in primary care dentistry, Delivering Better Oral Health. Public Health England has recently produced the third edition of this ground breaking document.
In 2007 Barry was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in Dental Surgery by the Faculty and in 2008 was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Central Lancashire for his contribution to the dental profession. He was awarded a CBE in the 2010 New Years Honours List and in 2011 Barry was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Faculty of General Dental Practice. In 2013 Barry was also awarded an honorary doctorate in dental science by the University of Plymouth in 2013.
In 2012, he represented the University of Birmingham in the Christmas University Challenge.
Since January 2021, Barry has been a Non-Executive Director on the board of the Diocese of Coventry Multi Academy Trust and Chair of their governance committee.
To seek Barry's support, apply now to the Alumni Leadership Mentoring programme.