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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

GDC event in Birmingham proves popular R egistrants are being urged tobookearlyfortheGener- al Dental Council’s events in Edinburgh and Cardiff after all the available spaces were quick- ly snapped up in Birmingham. As the UK’s dental regulator, the GDC wants to meets its regis- trants face to face in a bid to help dental professionals learn more about how its work affects them, help shape its review of its Stand- ards guidance, take the role of a GDC Investigating Committee and get the answers to questions they want to ask. The GDC has arranged four free events across the UK that can count as two hours of verifiable CPD. The Bir- mingham event on 17 Febru- ary 2011 has been fully booked well in advance of the event. Booking is now open for two further events in Edinburgh on 23 March and in Cardiff on 25 May at www.gdc-uk.org. DT February 7-13, 20116 News United Kingdom Edition ESTETICA E80 Rise above the rest with KaVo. • Outstanding ergonomics and attractive, highly functional designs. • Innovation at its best. • State of the art technology reliability and functionality at amazingly low prices. From as little as £286* per month excl VAT KaVo Dental Limited · Raans Road, Amersham, Bucks HP6 6JL Tel. 01494 733000 · Fax 01494 431168 · mail: sales@kavo.com · www.kavo.com Contact your local KaVo or Gendex supplier for more details! *Finance is subject to status and for business purposes only. KaVo – Dental Excellence Estetica A4 SELECTED:Layout 1 25/2/09 13:42 Page 1 P atients failing to attend NHS dental appointments in England could be de- nying significant numbers of other people the chance to ac- cess care, according to a sur- vey by the British Dental As- sociation (BDA). The survey suggests that committed NHS dentists in England each lose the equivalent of almost two weeks a year because patients fail to turn up for appointments. The BDA believes that the research highlights a problem of a significant scale and that the option to charge a fee for missed appointments, abol- ished as part of the widely- criticised 2006 reforms to den- tistry, should be reinstated. If the experiences of the den- tists surveyed by the BDA reflect those of predominantly NHS dental practices across England, the research would indicate more than three-and-a-half mil- lion dental appointments were missed last year. Responses to the BDA research suggest that the problem is more prevalent among new patients than those who have been visiting a prac- tice for many years. They also suggest that the problem has become more acute since dental practices’ ability to charge pa- tients for missed appointments was abolished in 2006. JohnMilne,ChairoftheBDA’s General Dental Practice Com- mittee, said: “Sometimes there are genuine reasons why it’s just not possible for a patient to keep an appointment with their dentist and everybody under- stands that, but the results of this research suggest that the scale of this problem is significant. “Dental surgeries use let- ters, telephone calls and even text messages to remind patients of forthcoming appointments, so it’s really disappointing to see that so many people appear prepared to deny others access to care by failing to show up. This not only wastes dentists’ time, but also taxpayers’ money. With many people still failing to secure the dental appoint- ments they want, and the pub- lic purse under pressure, that’s simply unacceptable. This problem needs to be tackled and the BDA believes that the Government should consider reintroducing a fee for patients who miss appointments to deter them from doing so.” DT Missed dental appointments costs patient care Patients are missing out on care