Biting back Too little, too late
with Arthur Dent S
o, after months, indeed years of waiting and following a deaf- ening silence, Scottish Government (SG) has
finally finished its consideration of the Doctors and Dentists Review Body (DDRB) reports for the past three years. The outcome is that SG proposes to increase GDS fees by 2.5ı per cent; the increase will be backdated, but only to ı April 20ı3. This is hardly going to alleviate
the pressure on the budgets of those of us struggling with tight cash-flow in NHS-committed dental practices. The fee scale we use at present was introduced on ı December 20ı0 and had been delayed from April of that year, so we are currently working for fees which are in essence three years out of date. In the interim years the DDRB
has awarded fee increases but, until now, SG has ignored (or has been ‘considering’) the awards, in spite of constant lobbying and questioning from the profession. And, even with this announcement, SG is not implementing the DDRB increases in full, let alone backdating them to the appropriate periods over the past three years.
The DDRB award for this year
was that an uplift of ı.49 per cent be applied to item-of-service fees in Scotland for 20ı3/ı4 and that this increase should be compounded with the outstanding uplifts for 20ıı/ ı2 and 20ı2/ı3 (increases of ı per cent and ı.38 per cent respectively). So, in the end, SG is willing to
give uplifts of only 0.5 per cent for each of the previous years (20ıı/ı2 and 20ı2/ı3) and compound these together with the implementa- tion in full (gee thanks) of this year’s uplift of ı.49 per cent. This apparently delivers a net increase in fees of 2.5ı per cent, and, no, I don’t understand the arithmetic either! Bear in mind that these
DDRB awards are designed to deliver no pay increase to GDPs but are supposedly to cover increasing practice expenses, leaving dentists’ income untouched. My personal income has been drop- ping markedly over the past 3-4 years due to rocketing costs of expenses, and I am certain your experience will be similar. Practice expenses are on an
DETAILS AND CONTRIBUTORS Editor
Bruce Oxley
Tel: 0141 560 3050 bruce@connect
communications.co.uk
Senior sub-editor Wendy Fenemore
Sub-editors: Chris Fitzgerald Penny Murray
Design and production Lindsay Neill
Advertising sales manager Ann Craib
Tel: 0141 560 3021 ann@connect
communications.co.uk
Subscriptions Ann Craib
Tel: 0141 560 3021 ann@connect
communications.co.uk
1 year, 6 issue
subscriptions: UK £60; overseas £75; students £30. Back issues: £5, subject to availability.
Scan this QR code with your smartphone to see all of our social media offerings
“The DDRB awards are meagre and do not come close to addressing rising costs”
Column
ever-increasing upwards spiral: laboratory bills, materials and staffing combined with greater demands on practices to comply with new practice inspection protocols, decontamination and running costs of LDUs. The fact that SG refuses to
pay these paltry awards in full and delays the payment for years is an insult to dentists, especially to those in hard-working, loyal NHS practices. We recognise we live
in times of financial stringency and already efficient dental prac- tices have ‘tightened their belts’ as much as they can. Further econo- mies will inevitably impact on the quality of care that can be given to NHS patients and morale among dentists and staff is at an all-time low. The dentists, staff and patients of Scotland
deserve better.
is published by
The copyright in all articles published in Scottish Dental magazine is reserved, and may not be reproduced without permission. Neither the publishers nor the editor necessarily agree with views expressed in the magazine.
ISSN 2042-9762
Studio 2001, Mile End, Paisley PA1 1JS Tel: 0141 561 0300 Fax: 0141 561 0400
www.scottishdentalmag.co.uk Scottish Dental magazine 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88