Department of Health must save the dental indemnity ‘crisis’

indemnityThe Department of Health (DH) must step in and save the ‘crisis’ over dental indemnity fees, the BDA says.

DH has recently announced the launch of a GP-only indemnity scheme to help ease the pressure of mounting indemnity fees on doctors.

There have been concerns over the increase in dental indemnity costs recently, with Neel Kothari, mixed NHS and private dental practitioner, claiming costs have ‘skyrocketed’ and that the profession is ‘in crisis’.

Crisis

‘Caught in a pincer between facing flat lining incomes and skyrocketing costs NHS dentists must be given access to this new scheme,’ British Dental Association (BDA) chair, Mick Armstrong, said.

‘We have a broken indemnity market and Government is right to step in, but closing the door to dentists will only make this problem worse.

‘We already face steep costs, and undercutting existing providers by taking away a big slice of their customer base may well impact on prices for those that remain.

‘This plan is still on the drawing board, but it is imperative that no health professional, whether private or NHS, should suffer as a consequence of this intervention or as a result of continued market failure.

‘Patients across the whole NHS are paying the price for access problems, mounting costs and underinvestment.

‘The Government needs to offer common solutions to common problems, otherwise it sends a terrible message to dedicated NHS dentists, and will only deepen the crisis facing the service.’

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