Going to the dentist is something that many would want to avoid – but how about if you also faced a penalty fine?<\/p>\n
More than 40,000 people a year in England are getting fines of \u00a3100 – from an automated system that dentists say is hitting the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
They warn that people such as dementia sufferers are unfairly getting caught up in a system meant to stop fraudsters from getting free treatment.<\/p>\n
The NHS accepts there is a problem with errors and is promising changes.<\/p>\n
The fines, about \u00a34m per year, are being applied by a random screening process that checks on whether people going to the dentist are really eligible for free treatment.<\/p>\n
But dentists say rising numbers of people with dementia, or those with learning difficulties, are being unfairly fined for something as simple as ticking a wrong box in confusing paperwork.<\/p>\n
When these have been challenged, about 90% have been overturned as having been incorrectly applied.<\/p>\n
The British Dental Association says the problem seems to be increasing and with an ageing population is only likely to get worse.<\/p>\n
Charlotte Waite, a senior dentist working in Loughborough, Leicestershire, says this is a problem appearing on a “daily basis”.<\/p>\n
“This has become a significant barrier to care. It can cause a lot of distress if people feel they are seen as fraudulent,” she says.<\/p>\n
Mrs Waite, vice-chair of the British Dental Association’s England community dental services committee, is leading a campaign to stop a wave of fines for elderly and frail people, those with dementia or learning difficulties, who have made honest mistakes when filling in forms about free care.<\/p>\n
She says even when patients are eligible for free treatment, an incorrect description of specific benefits or failure to renew documents can trigger a penalty fine, which rises to \u00a3150 if there is a delay in payment.<\/p>\n
And she says because it typically affects vulnerable and often low-income families, there has been a lack of a “powerful advocate” to raise the issue.<\/p>\n
Many such patients will be brought to the dentist by a carer, and Mrs Waite says they might not have the detailed information about types of benefit and exemption certificates.<\/p>\n
She says this becomes a dilemma for dentists, whether to turn away patients or to treat them and then risk that they will face a fine.<\/p>\n
Patients might turn up for the dentist and go away again without treatment because of confusion over benefits and entitlements and worries about being fined.<\/p>\n
“I feel very strongly that clinical time should be spent on clinical work,” she says, rather then trying to navigate the benefits system.<\/p>\n
“It’s an extreme waste of clinical time.<\/p>\n
“We really need to sort this out now.”<\/p>\n
What dentists say they’ve seen<\/strong><\/p>\n “They were fined twice over an 18-month period, due to the change in exemption and Mum accidently putting the wrong thing on the form.<\/p>\n “Mum was having a bad year and the patient had suffered a few health problems, and these fines were very upsetting and caused lots of anxiety.<\/p>\n “We did manage to get the fines turned around, but this took long periods of time and many phone calls and a letter. We were constantly up against a brick wall.”<\/p>\n “He contacted me in quite a panic and I had to reassure him and request that he brought in the paperwork to me to see, I completed the appeal form for him as he was entitled to claim free dental care.<\/p>\n “The appeal form that needed sending back was quite a complex letter, and I think our patient would have struggled to respond to it without help.<\/p>\n “I felt it was most unfair for him to have to go through that.”<\/p>\n “I phoned on her behalf, but they would not accept my word regarding the patient’s special needs and wanted a letter from the patient’s doctor.<\/p>\n “It took three weeks for the patient to get in to see the doctor as it wasn’t urgent. All I could get was a deferral in increasing the fine [for non-payment] while the patient waited for a letter from her doctor.”<\/p>\n What the NHS wants to do in response<\/strong><\/p>\n The NHS Business Services Authority, which oversees the fining system, accepts there is a problem and is looking for a way to make improvements.<\/p>\n A spokeswoman says no-one wants vulnerable people to be unfairly fined or for dentists to waste valuable clinical time.<\/p>\n The checks have an important role in making sure free treatment isn’t being unfairly accessed by those who should pay.<\/p>\n The screening system compares what people have put on forms at the dentist against two databases of information about benefits and entitlements – and if these do not match, the fining system generates a penalty notice.<\/p>\n The most recent figures suggest almost 120,000 fines have been issued over the past three years.<\/p>\n But the British Dental Authority says when 30,000 of these fines were checked, almost 90% were overturned, suggesting the scale of the error in the system.<\/p>\n “We want to make sure that patients, particularly those who struggle with literacy, understand if they are entitled to receive free dental treatment or if they should pay,” says a NHS Business Services Authority spokeswoman.<\/p>\n “We recognise the importance of information and access to it for everyone.”<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n