Management information on the number of contracts signed, signed in dispute and rejected in Shropshire PCT area by 1 April 2006 shows that of the contracts offered, 64 were signed and eight rejected. Of the 64 contracts signed, 55 were signed in dispute. Three of these disputed contracts are now settled and discussions continue on the remaining contract. The information on disputes is updated through monthly reports and is available on the Department’s website on www.performance.doh.gov.uk/dental_contracts.
For Shropshire PCT, rejected contracts represent 11,256 units of dental activity. This was 2.6 per cent. of the total UDAs associated with all the contracts the PCT offered in April. The latest information shows that as at the end of August, the PCT had re-commissioned a total of 11,411 UDAs.
A contract may be for an individual dentist or a practice.
The number of adults and children using general dental services and personal dental services registered within Shropshire County PCT during the period 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2006 is shown in the table.
Adults Children Total 1997 105,477 38,897 144,374 1998 88,612 39,178 127,790 1999 78,345 40,523 118,868 2000 77,408 40,622 118,030 2001 74,805 39,987 114,792 2002 79,565 40,748 120,313 2003 70,656 39,423 110,079 2004 77,263 40,998 118,261 2005 76,574 40,952 117,526 2006 90,688 43,243 133,931 Notes: 1. The postcode of the dental practice was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. PCT and strategic health authority areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics all fields postcode directory. 2. The data in this report are based on NHS dentists on PCT lists. These details were passed on to the Business Services Authority who paid dentists based on activity undertaken. A dentist can provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the PCT. In some cases, a NHS dentist may appear on a PCT list but not perform any NHS work in that period. Most NHS dentists do some private work. The data do not take into account the proportion of NHS work undertaken by dentists. 3. PDS schemes had varying registration periods. To ensure comparability with corresponding GDS data, PDS registrations are estimated using “proxy registrations”, namely the number of patients seen by PDS practices in the previous 15 months. PDS proxy registrations were not estimated for periods before September 2003—actual registrations were used before this date. 4. Data for 2003 and earlier do not include those PDS schemes that do not have any registrations, for example dental access centres, and is therefore not directly comparable with later data. 5. The boundaries used are as at 31 March 2006. 6. The latest information available for registration data covering the time series 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2006 has been published by The Information Centre for health and social care. “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006” ISBN 1-84636-073-0. Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care NHS Business Services Authority.
The previous system of patient registration does not operate under the new regulations. Information will be available in due course via the NHS BSA on the numbers of patients who receive care or treatment from national health service primary care dentists on one or more occasions within a given period of time. This will provide a measure that is broadly similar to that of patient registration under the former system of GDS. We expect the first information to be available later in the year.
(2) what steps she is taking to ensure that patients are kept informed about their entitlement to treatment by an NHS dentist;
(3) if she will monitor the number of patients switching from NHS dentists to private dental health insurance schemes; and if she will ensure that those who do so are aware of their entitlement to NHS treatment.
If a dentist holds a national health service contract, misleading a patient about the range of treatments available is a breach of that contract. Where primary care trusts have evidence that a dentist has misled patients in this way there are a range of possible actions culminating potentially in termination of the dentist's NHS contract.
The General Dental Council's guidance “Maintaining Standards” requires dentists, whether providing NHS services or not, to make clear to patients the nature of the contract and in particular whether the patient is being accepted for private or NHS treatment. Non-compliance with these standards potentially puts a dentist's GDC registration at risk.
Information for patients about NHS treatment and eligibility is widely available. Local information is held by each PCT. Many also run help lines dedicated to advising callers on how to access NHS dental services locally. At national level, NHS Direct can give callers information on their nearest dental practice offering NHS treatment. Patients can also access this information on line at NHS.UK.
There are no plans to monitor the numbers of patients using private dental care. As with private medical care, this is a matter for the individual. However, access to NHS dental treatment is monitored. The first information following the reforms on the number of people accessing NHS dental services is expected to be available later this year.
This information is not held centrally.
This information is not held centrally.
The separate band for urgent courses of treatment is a feature of the new NHS dental contracts introduced on 1 April 2006 and data are therefore only available for the current financial year. Data are available at primary care trust level. The numbers of urgent courses of treatment so far reported and processed for the two Peterborough PCTs are shown in the following table.
Number 5AF North Peterborough PCT 817 SAG South Peterborough PCT 47 Total 864 Notes: 1. The postcode data of the dental practice division was used to allocate dentists to specific geographic areas. PCT areas have been defined using the Office for National Statistics all fields postcode directory. 2. The data in this report are based on NHS dentists listed on a contract between a PCT and provider. These details were passed on to the BSA who paid dentists based on activity undertaken. A dentist can provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the PCT. Most NHS dentists do some private work. Sources: The Information Centre for health and social care. NHS Business Services Authority.
If a dentist holds a national health service contract, misleading a patient about the range of treatments available is a breach of that contract. Where primary care trusts have evidence that a dentist has misled patients in this way, there are a range of possible actions culminating potentially in termination of the dentist’s NHS contract.
The General Dental Council’s guidance “Maintaining Standards” requires dentists, whether providing NHS services or not, to make clear to patients the nature of the contract and in particular whether the patient is being accepted for private or NHS treatment. Non-compliance with these standards potentially puts a dentist’s GDC registration at risk.