Asked for Dental NHS Scale and Polish.Told "Go to Hygienist at £25 extra"

maysmummy

Would it be unprofessional of me to suggest that with patients like Boozercruiser frankly I would be happy to let him take his money and his complaints elsewhere?

boozercruiser

maysmummy wrote: »

Would it be unprofessional of me to suggest that with patients like Boozercruiser frankly I would be happy to let him take his money and his complaints elsewhere?

:eek::(:D Obviously someone else who doesn't mind being Dumped ON.:D

brook2jack

Up to 2006 in the area I work there were no private dentists and most of us did very little private work. Since then almost every practice has gone private apart from the large company owned practices that have a quick turn over of dentists.

The nhs dentistry of 4 years ago has gone and the service has changed .... The government wanted fewer, simpler courses of treatment and this is what they've got!!

I worked over 20 years in the health service and have NEVER met anyone who earned even half net of the figures you quoted on nhs treatment. £200,000 net is around £600,000 gross which is one person doing approx 60,000 check ups a year an impossible task!!!

None of us earned anywhere near £200,000 ... The lowest locally was a chap who earnt £17000 and owns his own two man practice. You cannot sell a small nhs practice because no one will buy one since there is not enough profit for a bank to loan on it. We could all see that we would not be able to practice dentistry the way we used and not go bankrupt. Your dentist of 7 years ago will have either converted or changed the way they work because you cannot work the same way now.

The large corporates have a huge turnover of foreign dentists because they believe the lie you can earn huge amounts on the nhs and then find it's impossible to earn even a modest living without working incredibly hard and making difficult choices.

boozercruiser

brook2jack wrote: »

Up to 2006 in the area I work there were no private dentists and most of us did very little private work. Since then almost every practice has gone private apart from the large company owned practices that have a quick turn over of dentists.

The nhs dentistry of 4 years ago has gone and the service has changed .... The government wanted fewer, simpler courses of treatment and this is what they've got!!

I worked over 20 years in the health service and have NEVER met anyone who earned even half net of the figures you quoted on nhs treatment. £200,000 net is around £600,000 gross which is one person doing approx 60,000 check ups a year an impossible task!!!

None of us earned anywhere near £200,000 ... The lowest locally was a chap who earnt £17000 and owns his own two man practice. You cannot sell a small nhs practice because no one will buy one since there is not enough profit for a bank to loan on it. We could all see that we would not be able to practice dentistry the way we used and not go bankrupt. Your dentist of 7 years ago will have either converted or changed the way they work because you cannot work the same way now.

The large corporates have a huge turnover of foreign dentists because they believe the lie you can earn huge amounts on the nhs and then find it's impossible to earn even a modest living without working incredibly hard and making difficult choices.

Thank you for that very interesting information.:T

O.K. I know as we all do that the new contract foisted on Dentists has led to the virtual breakdown of good NHS Dentistry in this country. Being a customer I can vouch for that.:mad:

However, all I have been griping about has been the fact that a Scrape and a Polish is still available through my NHS Dentist, even in that first £12 band, but they would sooner push one on to a Hygienist at extra cost.

O.K. I now accept that perhaps the caviat is that a positive right to this is only if the patient NEEDS one, as per the Freedom Of Information post I did earlier. I.E. That example was from a Smoker whose teeth had become discoloured, and then according to the F.O.I. info one does have a RIGHT to a Scrape and Polish on the NHS.

This started for me in 2008 when my Dentist said "Your gums do not look very healthy, and I think that you should go the the Hygienist for a clean up". This led to me requesting a S.A.P. on the NHS....AND I GOT ONE.
And I just got another, though not as I remember one Jim!:D

In effect then he was saying 'I NEEDED THIS DOING'. was he not?

22 April 2009

FOILHBPublicLeafletV2 English.doc
547K Download View as HTML

Dear Tracy,

Request 09 143 under Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your request for information regarding the provision of
dental services which we received on 29^th March 2009.

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we are pleased to
enclose the information you requested.

An NHS patient is entitled to & should receive ALL treatment necessary to
establish & maintain oral health, and if they need it this also obviously
includes a scale & polish. If the treatment is beyond the competency of
the provider, then they should be referred on for it, with a form to state
what NHS charges have already been incurred.

If the patient is a smoker, and needs a scale and polish then it must be
provided.

boozercruiser

coldstreamalways wrote: »

When I worked onthe NHS, I had a number of patients exempt from charges who earnt more than me.

Hey ho, we're all bug9ers though. It's possible the easiest and least stressful job in the world so maybe we should all just do it for free with the hundreds of thousands of pounds we all have.

I can't wait to retire because of attitudes like this, it's so demoralising

Yes, and please let us not forget that us patients are pretty much demorolised bunch as well M8.;)

boozercruiser

brook2jack wrote: »

Up to 2006 in the area I work there were no private dentists and most of us did very little private work. Since then almost every practice has gone private apart from the large company owned practices that have a quick turn over of dentists.

The nhs dentistry of 4 years ago has gone and the service has changed .... The government wanted fewer, simpler courses of treatment and this is what they've got!!

I worked over 20 years in the health service and have NEVER met anyone who earned even half net of the figures you quoted on nhs treatment. £200,000 net is around £600,000 gross which is one person doing approx 60,000 check ups a year an impossible task!!!

None of us earned anywhere near £200,000 ... The lowest locally was a chap who earnt £17000 and owns his own two man practice. You cannot sell a small nhs practice because no one will buy one since there is not enough profit for a bank to loan on it. We could all see that we would not be able to practice dentistry the way we used and not go bankrupt. Your dentist of 7 years ago will have either converted or changed the way they work because you cannot work the same way now.

The large corporates have a huge turnover of foreign dentists because they believe the lie you can earn huge amounts on the nhs and then find it's impossible to earn even a modest living without working incredibly hard and making difficult choices.

Hey...i'me with you guys really. You lot are unhappy because the way that you HAVE to work has changed becuase you are victims of the new NHS Contract Procedures.

I am unhappy because us Patients are saddled with it also.

A check up and one filling and a Scrape and Polish would have cost £12.

Now it is £39 and the Denist tries to wriggle out of the Scrape and Polish and push one to the Hygienist at £25 and upwards.

Do you Dentists expect ME to be happy about that....and on a lousy Government Pension at that?:(

Yet my Dentist friends on this Forum seem to be of the opinion that I am some sort of parasite because I am complaining.

Put youself in the Patients shoes guys. Perhaps you just might think differently?

NO...I am a parasite by the way.

Apollonia

boozercruiser wrote: »

O.K. I now accept that perhaps the caviat is that a positive right to this is only if the patient NEEDS one, as per the Freedom Of Information post I did earlier. I.E. That example was from a Smoker whose teeth had become discoloured, and then according to the F.O.I. info one does have a RIGHT to a Scrape and Polish on the NHS.

Sorry, you still don't understand it correctly, a smoker with stains on their teeth does not NEED a scale & polish. That would be a cosmetic treatment to remove the stain.

A scale & polish is only NEEDED when gum disease (gingivitis or periodontitis) is already present. Cosmetic and/or preventive treatment is not covered under the NHS contract.

boozercruiser

Apollonia wrote: »

Sorry, you still don't understand it correctly, a smoker with stains on their teeth does not NEED a scale & polish. That would be a cosmetic treatment to remove the stain.

A scale & polish is only NEEDED when gum disease (gingivitis or periodontitis) is already present. Cosmetic and/or preventive treatment is not covered under the NHS contract.

May I respectfully suggest that you read that Freedom Of Information answere again?:D

boozercruiser

I did a Google in respect of complaints about this issue.....and they are all over the Internet.....this is just one small thread.....:D

NHS Dental charges
I have a couple of queries that I hope somebody will be able to help me resolve about NHS dental charges.

I went to the dentist in October for a check-up. Now, all they do on the check-up is basically, check, no clean or polish or anything. And then if you are needing treatment, you have to make another appointment to come back.

On this occasion, I was told I needed a filling, so I made the appointment to return on a later date. I paid £15.50 for this first appointment and got told next time I would owe £26.90

On my second appointment, in December, when I arrived, I was booked to see the hygeniest, not the dentist (which I was never told about, and only found out when I walked into the room and saw it was a different person!). I had a filling, and a scale and polish (which again, I never got told I needed). For this appointment I got charged £42.40.

By the time I had paid and got home, I remembered what they said about it only being £26.90 this time around. Today, I rang them to check this, and they told me it was right what I had paid as I paid £26.90 for the filling and then another £15.50 for the scale and polish.

I have had a look on the NHS website today, and it says that the scale and polish is included in the first £15.50 that I paid on the first occasion, and just because I had to go back again, which is down to them anyway, it is still included.

So again I phoned the dentist practice up, no, that is wrong, because the hygienist did it, it is more work for them than a dentist and that is why they are charging extra.

Now, to me, this isn't right. Surely I should be due £15.50 back for the extra that I have been charged. Are there any knowledgable people on here that could help me with this??
Thank you in advance!!

#2 (permalink)

Re: NHS Dental charges

Hi,

Looking at the date of this post you have probably sorted this matter out by now but you are well within your rights to complain about this, and you should first contact the PCT and explain to them what you have been charged.

We must stop Dentist from conning the public out of their hard earnt cash and this sort of thing is happening all the time and more people need to complain to be able to get some action on this.

I have just successfully had my old Dentist investigated with the help of the PCT and ICAS and made it a sort of landmark case for ICAS and they are now able to take case's a step further due to the breakthrough in mine.

"I WON!!! Hands down" and have paved the way for others but PEOPLE NEED TO COMPLAIN MORE IF THEY ARE BEING OVERCHARGED!!!

NO DIFFERENT TO BEING OVERCHARGED BY BANKS!!!

#3 (permalink) cally14067

Re: NHS Dental charges

I think some dentists are deliberately misleading the public - my husband went to see our new "NHS" dentist this week because one of his front teeth fell out. He paid the £16.20 check-up fee and was told that he needed 2 wisdom teeth extractions at a cost of £200 and bridge work for his missing tooth at £1500 (which in this recession is not a goer). It was only a chance conversation with my brother and a quick trip to the NHS website which seemed to imply that there is a ceiling of £198 for all of this week - can anybody verify that is the case - or am I misunderstanding the price list? - more to the point - am I being misled?

Re: NHS Dental charges
NHS dental charges from 1 April 2009 : Department of Health:
Download PDF from: NHS dental charges: what you should pay (from 1 April 200 : Department of Health - Publications

Last edited by sucofocus; 10th April 2009 at 13:20. Reason: need to change text format

21st April 2009, 19:29 #6 (permalink) Beingrippedoff?

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Re: NHS Dental charges


I attended the dentist today, they have come up with what I think is a great way of adding £45.60 (Band 2) to my final treatment payment of £198.00 (Band 3)............Do half of the work today and charge me £45.60, then tell me to come back in two months time so they can charge £198.00 because you are out of time?? I queried this and was told that it's the dentist new training?? So are dentists now given additional training on how to overcharge?

SO......There are an awfull lot of people out there quite angry about NHS Dentistry at the moment.

I may just contact the Wlsh X Ray program or the BBC Watchdog porgram as this needs highlighting to the general public.

And goodness knows how many people are being RIPPED OFF!!:mad:

Just like I was tried to be.:D

Apollonia

boozercruiser wrote: »

May I respectfully suggest that you read that Freedom Of Information answere again?:D

Certainly! Here are the relevant parts that I have cut & pasted from your posts. I have used bold type & underlining to highlight:

An NHS patient is entitled to & should receive ALL treatment necessary to establish & maintain oral health, and if they need it this also obviously includes a scale & polish.

If the patient is a smoker, and needs a scale and polish then it must be
provided.

NEEDS = to establish & maintain oral health NOT stain removal which is cosmetic.

So anyone who NEEDS a scale and polish to ESTABLISH/MAINTAIN ORAL HEALTH (ie disease is present) smoker or not, is entitled to one.

A patient without gum disease who wants stains removed (smoking, tea, coffee etc) is not entitled to that procedure under the terms of the NHS contract.

I really don't know how to explain this any more clearly.