APPENDIX 1: NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
(PRIMARY DENTAL SERVICES) (MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS AND TRANSITIONAL
PROVISIONS) REGULATIONS 2013 (SI 2013/364)
Letter from Earl Howe, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Department of Health, to Lord Goodlad
These Regulations, amongst other things, establish
the second wave of dental pilots and introduce a new (band 1A)
patient charge for patients in the pilots. They are due to come
into force on 1st April 2013.
Unfortunately, it has become apparent that there
is an error in the charge as drafted. The new Band 1A patient
charge covers care delivered at 'interim care appointments', a
concept new to the dental pilots and the new prevention focussed
patient (clinical) pathway being piloted. They focus on preventative
care and advice. The regulations amend the existing dental charges
regulations to allow interim care to be treated as a separate
course of treatment and a new course of treatment with its own
patient charge (band 1A) was created.
Some interim care 'treatments' include hands on care,
others are simply advice. The intention is that only where there
is hands on treatment would the interim care be chargeable at
this pilot stage. The willingness of patients to pay for advice
only and at what level is untested and introducing a charge for
advice-only at this stage risked skewing the clinical learning
on whether patients benefit from such preventative appointments.
Therefore, the intention is that band 1A courses of treatment
which only include advice are not chargeable. The wording of the
regulations as laid however meant that even if the treatment delivered
within the interim care course of treatment comprised advice only,
it would be chargeable.
To correct this I propose to lay as soon as possible
an amending SI which revises the provision on the new band 1A
charge in the pilots. I intend at the same time to provide a further
full Explanatory Memorandum that will set out in fuller detail
the policy for extending the pilots and how the new charge will
operate. In advance of making the new amending SI I will conduct
a short targeted consultation with the British Dental Association.
I do apologise for the need for this correction.
I hope this letter provides reassurance about the approach we
intend to take.
Earl Howe
18 March 2013
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