Red Tape Challenge stirs dentists

The British Dental Association (BDA) is calling on the profession to join in the government’s Red Tape Challenge by drawing attention to the myriad rules and regulations that distract them from providing patient care.

An example is the disproportionate and duplicative regulation requirements now imposed by the Care Quality Commission, but there are many more the Association claims.

The BDA welcomes this initiative, which government ministers say not only offers the public an opportunity to say what they really think of unnecessary regulation, but also commits them to repealing legalisation that cannot be justified.

Red Tape Challenge is part of the government’s growth agenda and will tackle more than 21,000 ‘statutory instruments’ that are stifling businesses, volunteers and the public.

In a new pledge to get rid of unnecessary red tape, government departments will have to justify rules and regulations in force today.

Taxation, national security, and EU laws, are the only areas exempt from this scrutiny which will take place over the next two years.

The exercise will apply to legislation in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, where the government has jurisdiction.

Commenting on the Red Tape Challenge, Dr Susie Sanderson, chair of the British Dental Association’s executive board, said: ‘This initiative chimes in well with the BDA’s long-running campaign against red-tape in dental practice. Specifically, we will be asking members to suggest exempting dental providers from regulation by the Care Quality Commission and from licensing by the new healthcare economic regulator, Monitor.

‘Our members have also told us that they are fed up with the ever burgeoning, and costly legislation that falls into the realm of “law box-ticking”, rather than an evidence base for the need for compliance by dental practices.

‘It’s vital though that this red tape initiative is not just window dressing and that we see some real reduction in the unnecessary and unjustified regulatory burden that hampers dentistry.’

For more, visit www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/.

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