Patient care suffers due to dentistry regulatory pressures
During the annual review of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) services for members, BDA advisers reported a forty percent increase in the number and duration of advisory calls, and the complexity of the calls about regulatory issues. As a result, over a five year period, the BDA doubled their staffing capacity to provide the necessary guidance to members for compliance.
Due to concern over regulatory pressures burdening dentists and impeding on patient care, the BDA has campaigned for changes to regulatory expectations in dentistry. With the responsibility for professional practice regulation shifting to dental practices, dental teams are focusing much of their time on practice and regulatory concerns. The shift is as a result of the Department of Health’s 2009 Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices for local practice self-assessment audits and The Steele Implementation Programme.
Lord Colwyn, dental surgeon and Conservative Peer, confronted Earl Howe, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health with responsibility for dentistry, about the BDA’s concerns and the progress of the 2009 Steele review changes to NHS dentistry. The result is that Government will approach dentistry professionals and patients for feedback as part of their continued review to transform the delivery of NHS dentistry.
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