I'm not starting a theme for my blog here but it seems that this post is connected with the previous one...a first for me and an apt way to celebrate my 100th blog post!The government will find a way: four months ago the new Dentist contracts came into play and at the same time we find that the UK is importing Dentists: it appears that almost half of the dentists who joined the NHS in England last year qualified abroad, official figures have shown and of these Poland alone contributed 17% of the 2,200 dentists who joined the health service in the year to March 2006...
The British Dental Association (BDA) said 60% of those who had signed were unhappy with the terms of the contract and could still opt out, although the government said it was half that number; 10% of dentists did opt out: dentists' frustrations over contract continue: dentists across England have yet to resolve disagreements over their new NHS contracts four months after they came into force. Figures published by the Department of Health today reveal that 69% of contracts signed ‘in dispute’ by dentists when the new contract was introduced have yet to be resolved. Lester Ellman, Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee, said:
“This is clearly an extremely worrying situation for many dentists and their patients, and reflects the uncertainty, unfairness and unhappiness surrounding the Government’s reforms of NHS dentistry. Dentists are frustrated about the target-driven nature of the new contract which fails to allow a more preventive approach to care. And from the evidence so far, the new contract seems to have done little to achieve the Government’s primary aim of making it easier to find an NHS dentist.”The dentists themselves will not benefit from the changes, from the BBC report: Essex dentist Piers Lambert when explaining the new charges to his patients in the form of a leaflet wrote: "Please remember that these increased charges will not increase the revenue to the practice."
"We will be collecting the indirect "tooth tax" on behalf of the government."Unsurprisingly, Mr Lambert is one of thousands of dentists who signed the contract "in dispute", meaning they only agreed to put pen to paper to ensure services keep running while continuing to negotiate on the terms.
The BBC also reported that Shadow Health Secretary, at the time, Andrew Lansley said:
"This new contract is a bad deal for dentists and a bad deal for patients."
And Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, added:
"The long-term future of NHS dentistry looks bleak unless the government urgently review the new contract."
Now I'm not complaining so much about the imported dentists themselves, I'm sure they are perfectly capable at their jobs; but it does seem to be a way the government can wrangle the existing set-up to the detriment of those already employed and whose education and careers have led them to their current professional standing -and it's not the first time either: it happened with Vets as well, hundreds were imported, primarily from Spain, and the influx of foreign nurses continues to increase...where and when will it end? When the lawyers (and their political benefactors) find themselves displaced by cheaper foreign imports, that's when!
18 comments:
Span, my OH's been an RAF dentist for 32 years.
The reason he got out of the NHS was because the system was a mess 33 years ago.
Curmy, knows that I used to have all my teeth and only a few fillings and had a regular dentist and then one day they did not remind me(I live only a street away)and I was off their register and have been ever since and I have now all but lost all my upper molars(there's nothing to save)and one on the bottom is broken.
But I can live with that and I probably could cope better once they are missing altogether. Its harder to eat when they are broken. What a thought!
There are some nice false teeth these days...not that I am in a hurry to get a set you understand.
hehehe...my teeth are good but not as nice as the ones in the image!
You can always eat soup and liquidised food Gildy! ;-)
Curmy...ask what he thinks of the new contract, it won't affect him but he'll be able to 'put me straight', are these NHS dentists right to opt out (10%), or sign in dispute (60%)...that leaves about a third that would seem happy with it.
RAF...randy flyboy, eh? I bet when he first asked you out on a date he asked you to "open wide"!!
;-)
Span, the problem with this new contract seems to be, that after they've done a certain amount of work, if they've still got patients waiting for treatment, they won't get paid for doing their fillings etc.
BTW when I met my OH he was still a dental student at Guys, and he didn't join the RAF until 4 years later. .
So no rude jokes please !
My dentist retired kast year and sold his practice to a health care company. My new dentist is from Estonia which is unfortunate as I was hoping for a Polish one so I could practice my Polish.
I visited her on 31st March, the date is important as you know, because of a broken tooth - the charge was £2 - you should have seen the faces of the other patients when the receptionist told me the cost!
Interestingly the CBI have just said that Polish migrants are actually creating businesses - I know you are a keen supporter of St.George span but aren't we seeing the ultimate implementation of Thatcherism and Tebbitism?
Sorry should have been Span (not span) - didn't mean to be rude :-)
Paul, I've answered on the other post as well - thanks for all the comments and no worries re s/Span...if you edit the html text you'll see 'me' all over the place :-)
Yes indeedy, the market; it cannot be bucked ;-) but there are ways that you can ruin the market if the conditions aren't regulated. Re the dentists (and those Czech cabbies!) I have no problem at all if ALL the dentists in the country were Polish if that was from 'organic' growth of the marketplace; what concerns me, and the impression I got hence this post, is that the government disadvantage those in the marketplace by incessant fiddling, those effected (some of whom protest) are given short shrift/ignored because there is a ready-and-waiting (and cheaper) alternative. Re the CBI they are perfectly correct, in the same way as teh Ugandan Indians (those from India!!) did.
Off on a tangent but similar in a way; farming in the UK has undergone massive changes - all for the better as far as the consumer is concerned (no probs) but they have been swamped in rules and regulations and inspections that they cannot avoid by law...all this adds to the cost of the produce but the prices they receive are ever pushed downwards because the supermarkets can and do import foreign produce that has NOT undergone even a 10th of the hooha and definitely much less inspection...hang on , didn't you post on Brazilain beef the other day (on the MB)?
curmy...rude comments? moi? :-)
Span
I don't think I posted on the Brazilian beef but I'll check.
I still think its wrong that a company like Vitacress finds it cheaper to bring workers over from Portugal for the summer, put them up in temp.accomm in Hampshire than higher local students or part-timers.
As you may have seen from my post on 5MB yesterday (you can always spot my posts as they usually receive five replies or fewer!) the minimum wage is being soundly abused in this country.
One of the more surrel experiences I've had in my life in accountancy happened a few years ago. I had to sit with a client for ten minutes whilst he decided whether or not he wanted to claim his CAP grant for set aside. He was entitled to £60,000 (yes 60 grand) but felt morally he wasn't entitled to it.
It may seem strange working in a profession whose primary goal is to ensure that, within the ICTA, clients pay as little tax as possible whilst my personal politics say the opposite.
Span, when I was in my early 20's I was very well behaved. I was too terrified of my parents to be otherwise!
It may not have been the most exciting life, but it was preferable to being lynched by my Mother for getting " Into trouble"
Span 1) You've never met my mother !
2) Thanks
3) I was being your able assistant (laugh)
Span, I've left you a reply, but it hasn't appeared on your blog.
Curmy!! God knows what has happened but you are NOT going mad (I think)...I checked at least twice this afternoon and again just now and there was no reply...this 2nd reply of yours (timed 9:18pm has appeared - as normal I presume) but now there's your reply from earlier...at about 2pm!!???!!!. which to be honest I had expected...but it WAS NOT there...those thick twats still haven't twigged that my message 2 (YES THE SECOND ON THE WHOLE BLOODY THREAD!!!) was basically to push St.George's Day....in the most Islamic friendly way :-)
Span, some of the people on the UK News board are a bit dim, You're obviously intellectually their superior (laugh).
Younger daughter was home for 2 days (she's like a whirlwind) but has gone back now.
Elder D. is currently travelling in Vietnam.(Ooh Er, but then I remember the war 30 years ago !)
Congrats on the ton up Span. The last time i went to the dentist I had an 8 a.m. appointment and after fifteen minutes the assistant came out and said the chair wouldn't work and they'd have to cancel. It was like arriving at school to find it was closed for the day. Terrific!
Nice one Augustus! Mind you it was probably the straps on the chair that had been broken by the previous patient :-/
I seem to have an indeterminate number of posts somewhere beween 100 and 300, but I'm damned if I'm counting them. I more prolific but not as long winded!!!! ;-)
300!! You big fibber!!! The number of posts is on your dashboard...'go ni' as if you're going to cahnge settings or do a new post and it tells you (next to where you click for New post/ Settings
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