General Dental Council

pepsimax31

Hello I would like some advice if anyone here could help.
Today I received a letter from a lawyer representing the GDC asking if they can have my consent to use my records in a court as they are investigating my previous dentist.

Firstly they do say where possible my records will stay anonymous, except to at least my former dentist (and everyone at the lawyers by the sounds of it). They ask if I do or do not give consent. In the event of me not giving consent then they can still decide to go ahead and use it.

Firstly, for personal reasons, I 'do not' want my details entering the public domain and I personally feel the GDC should have contacted me direct before giving my records to a lawyers but that is obviously the way it works. Also the letter was dated 27th Sep' and I received it today (28th) and they want it back my 1st Oct. I can't see that happening but you got to love their optimism!
So legally can I do anything about getting this stopped? If I should seek legal advice is there anyway I can get help towards the costs as I am currently unable to work and would qualify?

Slightly weird question but if I were forced to pay a private fee for dental treatment while I was qualified to receive full NHS treatment for free, is there a time limit on making a complaint and to try and recoup this money?

I thank you all so much in advance for informative answers and please I am looking at legal not moral issues here. Thank you.

Fire_Fox

1 November is about five weeks away.

brook2jack

When you sign a fp17 form consenting to nhs dental treatment you also consent to your records being available to the nhs for investigation.

If the GDC have now asked for consent it normally means there has been a court case, the dentist found guilty and now they are facing a second hearing to strike them off the register.

The lawyers would already have access to all nhs notes for the court case (you gave consent by accepting nhs treatment) and now GDC want access for a fitness to practice hearing.

As to reclaiming fees paid privately for nhs treatment , you would have to appoint your own lawyers, I doubt that the amounts would make this viable and the dentist , if they are struck off, will be bankrupt and probably unable to pay you back.

brook2jack

Forgot to say no dentist is obliged to treat you on the nhs whether you are exempt or not. They are entitled to say they will only treat you privately.
However what they cannot do is take you on for a course of treatment as an nhs patient and charge you private charges for the same treatment at the same time.

pepsimax31

Fire_Fox wrote: »

1 November is about five weeks away.

Thank you. Brain lapse, should read October not November

pepsimax31

Thank you Brook2Jack for your very informative answers. What you say about 'being struck off' is correct as that is how the letter reads. Thank you for the information regarding consent forms, this I didn't know.

However what they cannot do is take you on for a course of treatment as an nhs patient and charge you private charges for the same treatment at the same time.

This however is exactly what happened. They done most of the treatment on the NHS but during the course of treatment was then told a part that had previously been discussed could now only be done for a fee. The fee paid did not match either band 1, 2 or 3 treatment and as I had serious health issues at the time, I paid without thinking if it was correct practice.
Since my previous dentist left the practice in the last year I have been thinking about if I am entitled to try and claim it back for being wrongfully charged (at this point I do not know if legally this is the case) so wondered how I went about logging a complain for it to be looked into.

brook2jack

The problem lies with the dentist not the practice. You would need to claim the fee back from him. If he has already been found guilty of misconduct and now faces being struck off I would think if he isn't bankrupt now he soon will be.

You would need to take him probably to small claims court and to start would need a copy if your records.

However all this will cost and at this stage the dentist is unlikely to be able to pay so if you are cash poor you may just be throwing good money after bad.

pepsimax31

brook2jack wrote: »

The problem lies with the dentist not the practice. You would need to claim the fee back from him. If he has already been found guilty of misconduct and now faces being struck off I would think if he isn't bankrupt now he soon will be.

You would need to take him probably to small claims court and to start would need a copy if your records.

However all this will cost and at this stage the dentist is unlikely to be able to pay so if you are cash poor you may just be throwing good money after bad.

Thank you for explaining that. I appreciate your time.

welshdent

pepsi I would not be too concerned about your name getting out. You would be referred to as patient a etc. If you follow this link you can see some publicly available info about upcoming and finished cases

http://www.gdc-uk.org/Membersofpublic/Hearings/Pages/Hearings-list.aspx

Some will have a link to a pdf file for their determination and thus how the information is presented including how a patient is referred to

pepsimax31

Thank you again. The link is amazing. I guess I can look up my previous dentist there.

pepsimax31

Thank you again for the advice given. Just to let you know I spoke with the lawyer representing the GDC at length regarding this. They explained that it wasn't through complaints but due to random checking that discrepancies were noticed. They cannot say at this point if it affects any work I had, or didn't have done, but I raised concerns with them. When they review my notes (I gave permission) they will be slightly more thorough and will contact me if there is anything that stands out and if I may be asked to attend as a witness. The hearing is not until early next year.