From 1st April 1996, it will be part of terms of service of every dental practitioner working in the NHS to have an In-House Complaints procedure.
Guidelines from the Department of Health have recently been published, the final guidance which deals with disciplinary procedures is not expected until February 1996.
OUT
Most informal procedures at the FHSA
Discipline as part of the procedure
IN
In-House conciliation at the practice [Local Resolution]
Conciliation panel convened by the Health Authority [Independent Review]
The purpose of the new system is to separate complaints from disciplinary procedures and thus to allow the patient an opportunity to discuss the problem with the practitioner concerned. The Health Authority will expect the practitioner to respond to the complaint within two days and to provide an explanation to the complainant within ten working days. The Health Authority will only become involved if the practice fails to resolve the problem. The Health Authority will have appointed a non-executive director as Convener. The Convener will be asked to consider the unresolved complaint and to decide whether to convene a panel to resolve the issues. If a panel is convened, it will consist of a Chairman and another lay person, drawn from a regional list, and the Convener. The panel will be advised by two clinical assessors and at least one of these will be present when the panel meets. The clinical assessors will be nominated by local dental committees to the regional list. However, they will not advise in the Health Authority area of the practitioner against whom the complaint is made.
Following this independent review, the panel will send a report to the complainant, the clinical assessors, the practitioner concerned and the Health Authority. The report may not make recommendations that a practitioner should be subject to disciplinary action. If the patient is dissatisfied with the outcome, they may appeal to the Ombudsman. Decisions about disciplinary procedures can be made by the Health Authority; we await further information about disciplinary procedures and this will be published in February.
Any complaint made after 1st April 1996 will be dealt with under the new system, even if it refers to an incident which took place before that date. However, the old system will operate for complaints made but not resolved before 1st April 1996.
Dr Margaret Joscelyne BDS
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This document was last amended on 07-Jan-1996 © Priory Lodge Education Limited