Health / Health board provides more clarity in dental row
NHS SHETLAND has called on Lerwick Dental Practice to engage with the local health board as part of an ongoing practice inspection process that has not been completed.
Speaking to the local media on Tuesday, the board’s director of dentistry Anthony Visocchi provided some background information that should help the community understand what lies behind the very public row between the Market Street dental practice and the local health board.
In a number of strongly worded statements, published on social media over recent weeks, Lerwick Dental Practice (LDP) has blamed the health board for its decision to de-register 2,000 patients from NHS dental care by the end of this week. People can re-register as private patients though.
A further 4,000 could be de-registered by June this year, the practice has threatened.
Lerwick Dental Practice also demanded the resignation of the director of dentistry and, in a post published last week, called for a public meeting with NHS Shetland chief executive Brian Chittick in attendance.
However Dr Visocchi said there was absolutely no reason for the practice to act in the manner it has as long as LDP, which is managed from Dyce Dental Practice in Aberdeen, is willing to engage in the routine practice inspection process which takes place every three years.
He said this national inspection and certification process was “very important part of the requirements for dental practices to provide for their NHS patients”.
As part of the inspection process, which started in October last year, a number of “matters” were highlighted that needed to be resolved by last Friday (31 January).
The director of dentistry continued by saying that some of the submissions required were only partly completed, and therefore a meeting has now been offered to assist the practice further.
Photo; Shetland News
And because “issues” have been identified during a practice visit in October last year, Lerwick Dental Practice’s application process for registering a new dentist at the practice had to be paused until those “issues” were resolved.
Dr Visocchi said it would be not appropriate to give further details of the areas where the practice had not met the required standards but confirmed that there were several areas of concern.
He said: “While we are keen to support the practice to achieve this certification to continue to provide much needed NHS service to Shetland it is ultimately the responsibility of the practice to take the actions required to meet the standards we expect.”
Dr Visocchi said independent dental practices had to comply with the required standards at all times and it was part of his duties to ensure that this was the case.
He described the practice inspections as a common process and said: “What isn’t common is that practices are going public.
“There was no reason for the de-registrations. Had the practice been willing to work with the board we could have found a solution.”
But Dr Visocchi added: “However, independent practices are free to make such decisions without the need to consult the board as long as they follow the regulations.”
As Lerwick Dental Practice is the only independent practice in Shetland that provides dental care to NHS patients, there is no other practice that could take them on.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Scottish Government is providing some additional funding to help NHS Shetland to provide emergency dental care for those likely to join the long list of unregistered patients.
“We will put them on a waiting list, but the ability to provide long term routine care is not possible at the moment, and that is what we are working on with the Scottish Government to try and find a long term resolution,” Dr Visocchi said.
Can the crisis be resolved? According to the director of dentistry, it can.
“I don’t see why not,” Dr Visocchi said. “I have tried to reach out to them on a number of occasions to try and support them through this. We are here to support, and I have offered my support both verbally and by e-mail.
“That is part of the process of practice inspection; it is generally a supportive rather than a punitive exercise, but we do need the engagement.”
Lerwick Dental Practice said it would respond to the director of dentistry through the practice’s Facebook page.
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