Conservative Peer Calls for Dental Fees to be Published Online
Conservative peer Baroness Gardner, a member of the House of Lords, has called for dental costs to be published online to enable patients to check the cost of their treatment before they visit their dental practice.
Baroness Gardner said that the system would clear up problems associated with a lack of clarity surrounding dental fees. The proposal came in light of a report released by the Office of Fair Trading, which suggested that thousands of patients may be being mislead about the cost of dental treatment.
Baroness Gardner asked if it would be possible to set up some kind of online application, which would confirm the cost of a patient’s treatment before they visited the surgery. In response, Earl Howe, Health Minister, said that many surgeries already display price bands and treatment costs. However, a system that would make the treatment costs clearer could be a good idea.
Earl Howe admitted that some dentists were “less scrupulous” than others when it came to costs and said that this was an area that the government was focusing on to ensure that patients are being charged fairly and are fully aware of the cost of treatment on the NHS.
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