Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

Published by Dental Tribune UK Ltd © 2011, Dental Tribune UK Ltd. All rights reserved. Dental Tribune UK Ltd makes every effort to report clinical information and manufacturer’s product news accurately, but cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims, or for typographical errors. The publishers also do not assume responsibility for product names or claims, or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Dental Tribune International. Editor Lisa Townshend Tel: 020 7400 8979 Lisa@dentaltribuneuk.com Advertising Director Joe Aspis Tel: 020 7400 8969 Joe@dentaltribuneuk.com Sales Executive Sam Volk Tel: 020 7400 8964 Sam.volk@ dentaltribuneuk.com Editorial Assistant Laura Hatton Laura.hatton@dentaltrib- uneuk.com Design & Production Ellen Sawle ellen@dentaltribuneuk.com Dental Tribune UK Ltd 4th Floor, Treasure House, 19–21 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8BA R esident Geraldine Milner is taking legal action to chal- lenge the decision made in 2009 by the South Central Strate- gic Health Authority (SCSHA) to illegally force the fluoridation of Southampton’s water, the High Court has heard. The SCSHA, which believes the move will improve dental health, gave the go-ahead despite a public consultation showing 72 per cent opposed the idea. According to reports, Ms Mil- ner’s counsel David Wolfe told a judge that, if the scheme goes ahead, the mother of three teenag- ers would be left “with no choice but to drink water to which fluo- ride has been added”. As oppo- nents of fluoridation demonstrated outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Mr Wolfe said approxi- mately 195,000 people in South- ampton and parts of south-west Hampshire “would have fluoride added to their water whether they liked it or not”. He told Mr Justice Holman this was contrary to government policy that no new fluoridation schemes should be introduced unless it could be shown that the local population was in favour. The SCSHA reportedly used statutory powers to in- struct the local water supplier Southern Water to go ahead with fluoridation in February 2009 to improve dental health, even though 72 per cent of the public who responded to the pub- lic consultation opposed the idea. However, the High Court also heard that an opinion poll commissioned by the SC- SHA showed that 38 per cent were against the scheme, 32 per cent were in favour and the remaining 29 per cent were “don’t knows”, the court heard. Reports said that Mr Wolfe accused the SCSHA of failing in its legal obligation to prop- erly assess the cogency of the arguments for and against mass fluoridation. He added that the application for judi- cial review was not about the actual merits and health arguments over fluoridation. It was about the legality of the compulsory scheme, the first of its kind in the UK for 20 years. Mr Wolfe said: “Four out of five local authorities and three out of four local MPs expressed their opposition within the consultation process” The hearing continues. DT Fluoride debate The SCSHA has illegally forced the flouridation of Southampton’s water H ealth Secretary Andrew Lansley has outlined how the NHS must em- brace value-based competition if it is to meet the future needs of the public it serves. Speaking at the Maximising Quality, Minimising Cost con- ference, hosted by Monitor, the future economic regulator, and UCL Partners, the Health Secre- tary outlined how competition must be based on the quality of results for patients and not cost alone. Under the plans to modernise the Health Service, providers that deliver excel- lence will benefit from more patients choosing their serv- ice. Those that do not will have a strong incentive to change and improve. A recent report from the Eu- ropean Association for Cardi- othoracic Surgery showed that survival rates of heart surgery in England had improved as a result of the publication of out- come data by cardiac surgeons themselves. This drove competi- tion and cooperation and forced up standards dramatically, de- livering benefits for patients. This is an example of value- based competition. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Our plans to modernise the NHS will finally bring the power of competition to healthcare. Not a free-for-all race to the bottom, but a race for quality, for excellence and for efficiency. “We will change the default in the health service decision- making, so that it is GPs – the people who see patients every day – and their clinical colleagues across the NHS, social care and local govern- ment, who decide what and how services are provides. This is about giving patients and com- missioners real choice for the first time.” Responding to concerns that competition leads to varia- tion and divergence across the country, the Health Secretary said: “Despite the best efforts of the centre, variation already exists. The difference will be that future variation will be be- cause local communities have chosen that variation. It will be the very opposite of the post- code lottery.” DT Maximising quality through competition February 7-13, 20112 News United Kingdom Edition O n the front cover of the latest issue of Riskwise you will find an article that takes a close look at the GDC’s Fitness to Practise pro- cedures which are currently operating at a level never be- fore seen in the UK. On a purely statistical basis, UK registrants are at least twice as likely as their colleagues in the USA and Australia (for ex- ample) to find themselves un- der some kind of challenge from their professional regula- tor, and they are several times more likely to do so than their colleagues in many other parts of the developed world, includ- ing Europe. The article details aspects of the current GDC procedure which give rise to concern as well as offering support for the Council’s intention to review some of their procedures. Speaking from their Ed- inburgh offices, Kevin Lewis Director of Dental Protection said: “DPL has always taken an active role by working at the heart of the profession on be- half of the 70 per cent of dental registrants who are also DPL members. In addition to high- lighting our concerns about ex- cessive regulation of the dental profession, we look forward to contributing to the GDC’s re- cently announced review of its existing guidance docu- ments, with a view to produc- ing new guidance in early 2012, in the hope that the concerns we raised in Riskwise will be addressed.” “It would be very easy for Dental Protection to criti- cise from the side-lines, but we feel that it is more constructive and in the interests of our members to maintain a dialogue with the GDC and this is precisely what we are doing. However our mem- bers have a right to know what our position is on these impor- tant matters and the reasons for it.’’ Members of Dental Protec- tion can read the full article in Riskwise UK and Riskwise Scotland. Non-members can find the article here http:// www.dentalprotection.org/uk/ proportionality DT Dental Protection voices concern regarding Fitness to Practise procedures G lobal alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (Carlyle) has an- nounced that it has signed a bind- ing agreement to acquire Integrat- ed Dental Holdings (IDH), from Bank of America Merrill Lynch Capital Partners (BAMLCP), and simultaneously merge it with As- sociated Dental Practices (ADP) in partnership with private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners (Palamon). Carlyle will hold a majority of the newly combined entity and Palamon will share joint governance. BAMLCP is fully exiting its stake in IDH. The pro- posed merger of IDH and ADP is subject to relevant regulatory ap- proval. Financial details were not disclosed. IDH and ADP are two leading providers of dental care in the UK, primarily focused on NHS den- tistry, with close to 450 practices treating more than 3.5 million pa- tients per year. Carlyle and Palam- on will invest to enhance the qual- ity of patient care and grow dental services. Furthermore, this investment will facilitate the company’s di- versification into other prima- ry care services and cosmetic treatments. New equity for this transaction comes from Carlyle Europe Partners III (CEP III), a 5.4 billion euro buyout fund focused on investment opportunities in Europe. Palamon Capital Partners had invested in ADP through its second fund, Palamon European Equity II, a mid-market pan-Euro- pean fund focused on growth serv- ices businesses. In 2010 Palamon’s portfolio company profits grew by an average of 38 per cent; at the same time the Firm concluded six realisations generating almost 450 million euros of proceeds. DT Carlyle Group acquires dental service