The Dental Professionals Association

A news release from the Royal College of Nurses has set out a a 'small' change to the conditions of its contractual indemnity scheme with effect from 1 January 2012. The change will mean that indemnity cover for work undertaken by a member employed by a General Practitioner will in future be provided by the employer. The costs of any clinical negligence action will fall on the employer and his/her indemnity provider, not on the RCN scheme. This is expected to put increased pressure on the BADN which routinely charges for indemnity cover which the Scott Review described as unnecessary.

This follows the "Independent review of the requirement to have insurance or indemnity as a condition of registration as a healthcare professional" by Finlay Scott (the "Scott Review") published on 14 July 2011. It concluded that employees are covered arising from their employer's vicarious liability for the acts or omissions of employees and do not therefore need negligence insurance in their own right. Dental nurses who are members of the British Association of Dental Nurses at present still have indemnity cover included in the cost of membership.

We can’t remember when the DPA started publishing it, but receiving the DPA's unique Private Fees and Wages Guide is the benefit that members most look forward each year. It is the only Guide that is based on the results of a survey of member’s expenses. Complete the postal or on-line questionnaire before 31 January 2012 for entry into a FREE Prize Draw for a seasonal selection of wines from top producers with the high level of quality that you expect (or the non-alcoholic equivalent). All information will be treated in confidence. Data is aggregated and will be used to produce the DPA Private Private Fees and Wages Guide 2012 which is distributed FREE to all participating dentists.

Between April to September 2011, 1.4 million adults were asked about access to NHS dentistry in the previous two years. Participants were asked if they had tried to obtain an appointment with an NHS dentist, and if so, whether it was with a practice they had been to before and had they been successful. They were also asked what their overall experience was of NHS dentistry.  Patients who hadn't tried to obtain an NHS dentist in the previous two years were asked to select the main reason why they hadn't tried.

Patients with a regular dentist had the best success rate at obtaining an NHS dental appointment (87% of respondents tried to make an appointment with a dental practice they had previously attended.  In these cases, 96% stated they were successful) however more than one in five patients who are changing dentists could not obtain an NHS appointment (for the 13% of patients who sought appointments with a new dental practice in the last two years, 77% were successful, 20% were unsuccessful). The success rate for new patients was highest in the North East (83%) and lowest was in Yorkshire and Humber (69%).

Forty-one per cent of respondents did not try to get an appointment with an NHS dentist in the last two years. Of these, 30% said that they did not see the need and 34% said that they had found a private dentist. Thirteen percent said could not find an NHS dentist. In future, the survey will be held twice yearly (not quarterly) and published in December and June.

Read the full survey