On 27 November 2012, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched its 'Right to Smile' campaign which aims to make patients more aware of their rights when seeking dental care and treatment and more aware of their remedies if and when they are dissatisfied for any reason. The key messages build on the OFT's Report of a study it carried out on how the dental market is operating (published in May 2012).
Dental Protection strongly welcomes the underlying principle of allowing patients to make properly informed decisions about their dental care, and to encourage them to seek the information they need so that they can properly understand what treatment options are being proposed for their consideration, and what they will be expected to pay. However, some of the statements published as part of the campaign have the potential to actively mislead patients and raise doubts about the advice and information that their dentist has given them. This may then act as a trigger for unjustified complaints about the care and treatment offered or provided.
Kevin Lewis, Dental Protection's Dental Director, said, 'It is somewhat ironic that a campaign supposedly designed to improve patient awareness and understanding of their rights and choices, should itself contribute to the potential for misinformation and confusion.
Patients are given a very high level, selective and enticing summary of what an NHS dentist can and should provide for them, omitting to mention the many situations in which the statements simply do not apply. In these situations it is dentists and their staff who are left to correct such misconceptions, and in some cases spend time resolving the dissatisfaction that can result.
It is a real shame that a much needed and well-intentioned public information campaign should have been hijacked into implying that patients should be careful not to believe everything that they are told by their dentist.
The reality – as the OFT’s own research has confirmed – is that most patients are very happy with their dentists and the quality of information that their dentists give them. The early signs are that this is being confirmed by what the CQC Inspectors are finding when talking to patients during their visits to dental practices up and down the country.
Many patients make a conscious decision to seek their treatment privately from the dentist of their choice and it does not follow from this that they have been somehow deprived of NHS treatment. And in today’s mixed economy of dental health provision, it is misleading to suggest to patients that they either have an NHS dentist or a private dentist.'
Dental Protection has published an Interim Position Statement for its members, which supports much of what the OFT's 'Right to Smile' campaign is seeking to achieve, while also highlighting the practical difficulties and risks of some aspects of what has been called for by the OFT.
Notes for Editors
- MPS is not an insurance company. All benefits of membership are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
- Dental Protection's interim position statement can be found here.
- Details of the Office of Fair Trading 'Right to Smile' campaign can be found here.