10 • Advice


MOVING I


Making the move from VT to dental associate can be daunting. MDDUS dental adviser Claire Renton highlights the key areas to consider


T’S LIKELY that by now you are fairly settled in your new job. You’ve worked out that most of the nurses are skilled, knowledgeable and keen to help, that the receptionist is the best person ever at multitasking and the principal is best avoided first thing on a Monday morning. You have probably even had a stab at understanding the Statement of Dental Remuneration and have become familiar with some of the more usual claim codes. I bet that even the dentistry has got a bit easier, hasn’t it? You are probably putting all your matrix bands on the right way round now and your IDBs are working first time… Ok, well at least second time. Pat yourself on the back! It’s going so well! Now I’m not going to burst your bubble with


horror stories of what happens when things go wrong, I’m not even going to have a go about record keeping or behaving yourself at the Christmas party. I’m going to talk about the things you might want to consider getting into place over the next few months when it’s time to move on. What kind of practice do you want to be


working in? Which aspects of dentistry interest and excite you? What type of people do you enjoy working with? These are decisions that


“The advantages of having indemnity rather than insurance cover are massive”


you should be thinking about soon. There’s a massive difference between facial aesthetic practices and smile designs and treating patients who struggle to fund simple fillings, but both types of practice bring professional rewards and are equally worthwhile. What things do you need to get in place?


GDC registration Well, you need to make sure you remain on the General Dental Council register. The annual retention fee is payable in December. If it’s not paid and your name isn’t on the register come January 1, you won’t be allowed to practise and it can be really difficult to get back on the register without jumping through some serious hoops. One easy solution is to set up a direct debit, perhaps choosing a date in early December when you have most money in your account, being sure to check that the payment has gone through. If there’s any doubt, check with the GDC before the December 31 deadline.


Indemnity The other essential thing to have in place is indemnity cover. It is a legal requirement to have this in place so that, God forbid, if any of your patients suffer harm at your hands, they can make a claim and be restored or compensated. So, why choose indemnity over insurance?


Well the simple truth is that the advantages of an indemnity provider over an insurance product are massive. At MDDUS, when you call with a problem or just for some advice you speak to a dentist… a real live dentist, one that’s on the GDC register who can actually do dentistry! We are backed up by our own large in-house legal team made up of some of the


most experienced medical and dental defence solicitors in the country. So, if one of our members needs solid legal


advice we can provide it quickly and efficiently by discussing the matter with a real practising solicitor. Should a patient raise a claim against you then the dental adviser works with the legal team to resolve the case with your best interests at the forefront of their mind. If one of our members is referred to the GDC, their professional position is defended with, and this bit is really important, no limit to the costs. That’s right, no limit to the costs; there’s no cap. What you need to defend your position, you will get. Barristers, legal teams and experts can all be really expensive. Compare that to some of the insurance products out there that have a cap on costs and you can sleep easy if you are with MDDUS. Of course the best advantage of having indemnity instead of insurance is that we provide occurrence-based cover. This means that, provided you were a member when the alleged incident happened, you will have access to assistance. This applies even if you have since left us, or if the accusation is about something that happened many years ago. In contrast, insurance policies generally only provide assistance while you are paying a subscription. If you wish to end your policy you may not be covered for alleged incidents in the past unless you buy what is known as “run-off cover” – often a costly added extra.


MDDUS can also use our


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