Dental watchdog given greater powers to tackle practices which overcharge patients

Private dentists who overcharge patients or fail to tell them about cheaper NHS care could be banned from practising, under new government proposals.

Private dentists who overcharge patients or fail to tell them about cheaper NHS care could be banned from practising, under new government proposals.

Ministers announced a crackdown on unscrupulous dentists yesterday amid growing complaints about soaring treatment fees and the lack of dental care available on the health service.

The new proposals include the introduction of a more effective complaints procedure and greater powers for the General Dental Council (GDC), which regulates the industry. They would, for example, empower the GDC to bring cases of fitness to practice against dentists after a number of small complaints, rather than wait for a serious offence before it is able to take action.

The reforms would also allow the GDC to take stronger action against private dentists who are accused of offences which do not call into question their ability to practice.

Until now, there has been no equivalent to the NHS complaints system for the patients of private dentists. The GDC could only hear complaints against private dentists which amounted to serious concerns about their continuing registration, such as cases of professional incompetence.

But the proposals published yesterday will mean that the GDC will be able to hear more minor cases; for instance, complaints that a private dentist has overcharged a patient or failed to tell them that they could receive the same treatment on the NHS. Rosie Winterton, a health minister, said: "We are determined to make sure that patients get a fair deal and clear information when they receive dental treatment, whether in the NHS or the private sector.

"I welcome the action being taken by the GDC to make it clear that professional standards require private as well as NHS patients to be given full information about treatment and costs, before treatment begins, and that failure to do so may put a dentist's registration at risk."

The government proposals come in response to a damning report last year by the Office of Fair Trading into private dentistry. The OFT investigation, prompted by a complaint from the Consumers' Association, found that the huge variation in the fees charged by private dentists meant that some patients were paying four times as much as others for the same treatment.

Some private practitioners were also failing to tell patients that they could get the same care on the NHS, the OFT report found. Patients complained that they had fre- quently agreed to treatment they believed was on the NHS, only to find themselves landed with a huge private bill at the end of the procedure. Some have been forced to pay up to £1,500 in private bills, when there is a maximum £378 bill on the health service.

The lack of NHS dentistry services has seen the size of the private sector increase by 50 per cent between 1997 and 2001. Last month, the Health Secretary John Reid published a plan to recruit more NHS dentists and improve access to care.

Hew Mathewson, president of the GDC, said: "We are committed to providing a fair and effective complaints system to deal with private patient complaints that do not call into question the dentist's fitness for registration and therefore cannot be dealt with effectively under the GDC's existing procedures. This new scheme should fill that gap."

Under the proposals, which are currently being put out to consultation, other dental workers such as nurses and technicians will also come under the GDC's regulatory procedures.

The Consumers' Association said the new proposals did not go far enough to protect patients fully.

HOW COSTS COMPARE

A basic check-up with an NHS dentist costs £5.64. Some private practitioners charge more than £50.

An extraction on the NHS costs £5.56. The General Dental Practitioners Association recommends a private charge of £61, although many practices have far higher fees.

Only cosmetic procedures such as teeth whitening are not available on the NHS, but the OFT report found dentists were telling patients that they had to pay private charges for all treatments.