March 2010 www.dental-practice.org
Ireland dental contract, and the Quality Assurance grant totalling Acting Chief Dental Officer, Donncha current access problems, but my
negative reaction by the BDA to £10,373 per annum, Charter O’Carolan, says: “My officials are officials will continue to monitor the
the 2009 Review Body settlement, Mark allowance totalling £1,000 working closely with the British situation, and we shall take further
the Minister agreed to substantially per annum and postgraduate Dental Association to achieve a action as is necessary to ensure that
increase another allowance paid to qualification allowance of £1,000 new dental contract for all health the general public has access to a
dentists, the commitment payment per annum – none of which are service dentists in Northern Ireland, health service dentist.”
in April this year. paid elsewhere in the UK. and I look forward to a successful
This effectively provided an • A monthly grant of up to £753 conclusion to this process.
additional payment of 1.5 per cent per month plus reimbursement “However, there are access
Keep in touch
of total General Dental Services of trainee’s salary up to £2,510 problems now that I have to address,
Dental Practice wants to hear
spend through these substantial per month. and I am delighted that practice
from you, wherever you are.
increases. • Re-imbursement of non-domestic chains such as Oasis will work with
Let us and your colleagues
The Commitment Allowance was rates, paid on a sliding scale of up us on this.”
know what’s happening in
introduced into the dental statement to 100 per cent of cost, depending He continues: “I am confident that
your area.
of remuneration over 10 years ago, on health service commitment. this initiative will greatly ease the
and is paid on a sliding scale, subject
to the amount of money earned
through Health Service treatments,
to dentists with five years’ service or
more.
The more health service work a
dentist carries out, the greater the
reward through the Commitment
Allowance.
The Minister agreed to an increase
of some 75 per cent to 2008/09
payments, at a cost of over £1.2
million. At the upper end of the
scale, committed health service
dentists on high earnings can now
earn almost £8,000 through the
commitment payment alone.
The overall effect of the increased
payments through allowances is to
reduce the effect of item of service
fees on overall health service
income, with a corresponding
increase in allowances, including
capitation and continuing care and
block payments such as the practice
allowance.
The Review Body’s last report
notes that Northern Ireland retains
the fee-per-item system, and
the difficulty in identifying how
Introducing the Lava
™
Loyalty
Example Lava
™
Loyalty Rewards
appropriate the fee/cost relationship
is. Programme - our way of saying
While the fees for items of service
may not have kept pace with costs in
thanks to our dental professionals
all cases, the Department points out
by giving something back to you.
that substantial increases have been
applied in various other payments.
If you are actively prescribing and placing 3M
™

It is no longer the case therefore
that the fee paid per item is the total
ESPE
™
Lava
™
Crowns and Bridges just log on to
remuneration applied.
www.3mespe.co.uk/loyalty for more information
In the same report, further details
on how you can register your Lava restorations
Try Lava crown and bridges
of the centrally funded allowances and see the full list of great rewards you could redeem.
today - the 2010 Dental
available to dentists in Northern
Advisor preferred product:
Ireland were requested. As well
If you are not already using Lava restorations then
as the practice allowance and
call 0845 602 5094 to receive a £30 discount on
commitment payments outlined
your first Lava crown and bridge case.*
above, the following are the primary
allowances also paid to GDS dentists
P
in Northern Ireland:
2010
P
re
fer
red
ro
du
cts
• Seniority Payment: paid to
dentists aged 55 and above, with
not less than 10 years’ service.
The fee is approximately 10 per
cent of the accumulated gross
health service fees paid.
• Vocational Training payments:
READER ENQUIRY DP 107
9
10march.indd 9 23/02/2010 11:52:28
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