PCT’s tighten the noose
Chris | June 24, 2008Here’s an extract from an email I received on Sunday:
I have also had a bit of a problem with the PCT. Most of the practices in the area went private when the new contract came in, and most of us took a child-only NHS contract. I received a letter on Thursday (dated the previous day) stating that the PCT is going to end all limited contracts in September (6 months earlier than agreed) and that if we wished to tender for further, all-inclusive NHS UDAs we had to get our response and proposal to the PCT by Friday!!
I rang the PCT dental lead who told me that in the PCT’s eyes the child-only contract was discriminatory so could be terminated whenever they liked. I stated my view that there is nothing in the contract which states they can do this, but she said there is nothing I can do unless I take a full contract!
I spoke to the BDA who said that the PCT cannot cancel the contract like this and I should speak to the PCT again- if they maintain the stance then the BDA legal dept will take it up. I also rang the LDC chairman- he has spoken with the PCT too, and they basically told him we can like it or lump it.
He suspects the Eddie Crouch case has encouraged the PCTs to believe they can do whatever they want- his advice was to take a small NHS contract to compensate for the loss of the children-only contract income. I thought that this may be a way around the problem, and that I could just see children as before, telling the adults trying to get an appointment that we are full, but the LDC chair was told by the PCT that they will be closely monitoring the claim forms put in to ensure no discrimination takes place.
I am quite concerned about this, as it will cause a drop of £720 per month in our income. I know I can take up a children’s plan with Practice Plan but I doubt it will be very widely taken up. More worrying is that the local private dentists I spoke to on Friday all seem to be resigned to going back into the NHS system to a fair degree. If this happens we could lose quite a few patients again.
What would your advice be in this situation?
i find this a frightening start to the process about
rich fretwell | June 24, 2008i find this a frightening start to the process about to occur. but as chris and co have been saying recently diferentiate your self and your practice.
is it not ideal to say we would love to contiue to treat your children but the PCT have told us we cannot from september.
speak to the local papers, write a newsletter get your retaliation in first.
£720 a month is a less than 1% increase on your fees.
bring it on i say but make sure you have areas of disproportionate delight, always under promise and over delivery.
go for it.
kids club, free stuff (get it from the reps), meet a local hero, kids days with entertainers.
sorry if this is a ramble but i feel this is a great opportunity and would love to help
rich
Maybe i am missing something here but if the shortfall
Mr A. Non | June 24, 2008Maybe i am missing something here but if the shortfall is just £720 a month then all you need do is sell three patients tooth whitening and you have covered the loss.
Am i right?
What an opportunity!!! Get together guys. Start singing from the
Adrian Stewart | June 24, 2008What an opportunity!!! Get together guys. Start singing from the same hymn sheet. Hand the smoking gun back to your PCT.
Losing this £720 per month in turnover is not a drop of £720 in income. Child dentistry takes skill, care and time. Does £720 per month pay any team to spend the requisite amount of these with the children? Thought not.
Our PCT (West Essex) cut the children only contracts in
Carla Jones | June 25, 2008Our PCT (West Essex) cut the children only contracts in April this year. I have a practice with a full NHS contract and we are inundated with families from these practices phoning to join us - private adults from these practices and their children they wish to be seen NHS. The PCT has not handed these UDAs on yet so we haven’t the capacity to take them. They were meant to award a contract by June 10th but have delayed verdict until July 13th. As a stop-gap they have said all NHS practices in the locality can have 8% more UDAs but only to take on patients who haven’t been seen on the NHS for 24 months. It makes me wonder, is this to get the bomb-sites treated cheaply or is it a vindictive (or political) act to jeopardise the practices which previously converted adults to private. Either way, not very attractive. Surely they are not allowed to discriminate in this way.
Hi, probably a bit late now but I had a
Michael | June 27, 2008Hi, probably a bit late now but I had a NHS kids only contract prior to the ‘new’ contract. When the new contract was ‘offered’ I refused and created a kids club with my existing adult plan provider (DPAS), they get very heavily discounted treatment ( approx 60%) and freebies, free OH advice from dedicated nurse etc as and when required. We simply wrote to all the ‘carers’ of the children at the practice and explained what we were doing and why, gave them 3/12 notice and sent them the necessary enrolment forms, followed up 2 months later with a phone call - we had 85-90% uptake!!
We are based in a very poor working class town with high levels of unemployment on the west coast of the Lake District. It can be done!