Dentist falsely advertise NHS slots
DENTISTS are falsely advertising NHS appointments they cannot provide and then pushing patients to pay for private treatment that can cost hundreds of pounds more, a study has indicated.
Undercover researchers found that nearly four in 10 dental surgeries that claimed on the Government’s official website to offer NHS services refused to offer an appointment when phoned.
A third were fully booked for at least two weeks. In one case, researchers who said they suffered from tooth pain were told to wait “eight to nine months”, consumer group Which? reported.
Some surgeries suggested that the researchers instead paid for private treatment, whichwas often available the next day. Unlike NHS dental work, where the costs are capped, private treatment can cost thousands of pounds.
A filling, for example, costs £50.50 through the NHS but the same practice can demand £200 if the patient pays privately. The cost of a crown can rise from £219 under the NHS to £1,100.
Richard Lloyd, the executive director of Which?, said: “It’s frustratingly difficult to get an NHS appointment with a dentist, as information about availability doesn’t reflect reality.”
He said the difficulties were so acute that some patients may have resorted to paying private fees. The research also showed a “worrying” percentage of patients were foregoing treatment altogether if an NHS appointment was not available, he added.“This is a kick in the teeth for patients, and yet more evidence of poor communication from the dental sector,” Mr Lloyd said.
To limit the burden on taxpayers, dental practices are able to offer only a lim- ited number of NHS appointments a year. Many also provide private treatment to fill gaps in their bookings and increase revenue. The treatment is usually identical apart from the type of material used for fillings and other work.
Surgeries list their services on the NHS Choices database to attract custom.
Each surgery is responsible for keeping its own page updated and is able to log in and change details “instantly”, a Government spokesman said. But Which? found 37 per cent of surgeries wrongly claimed to have NHS appointments available. Its undercover researchers called 500 sur- geries asking for an appointment and found significant regional variations. For example, in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, only five out of 18 practices claiming to accept new NHS patients offered an appointment. By contrast, appointments were offered in all 16 surgeries called in the Kent and Medway area.
Katherine Murphy, the chief executive of the Patients’ Association, said it was possible that some practices were purposefully leaving their entries incorrect. NHS England said its most recent dental survey of 246,773 people found 93 per cent successfully obtained appointments.