check up price

[bumblelion]

Hi

Me and my hubby had a check up and polish this week. We were charged £40 in total. I was suprised as the normal charge used to be under £30 for us both. We go every six months. I queried this at the time and the receptionist  mumbled something that the dentist is part private and part NHS because the government is not funding them fully.
Looking online I see the charge should be something like £15.50 for standard check and polish. No mention of underfunding.
Should I query this again or should I just accept that dentists can just charge what they like?

Thanks
YC

[Webmaster]

Hi Bumbleion

This is a new one to us at Whatprice! Certainly if you are visiting as a private patient the Dentist can charge what they like, but a quick check of the government dentist website shows that an NHS dentist should only be able to charge £15.90 for the check up and polish. We haven't heard of part private, part NHS treatment on an individual patient!

We'll look into this further for you, does anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks

[bumblelion]

Thank you

I would appreciate any further info on this. My friend went to the same surgery the next day but a different dentist and was charged the £15.90 for the same treatment.
If I have definite information I will be able to query my charge.

YC

[HiHo]

Are you registered as an NHS patient with the dentist? Just because a dentist takes NHS patients doesn't mean every patient is NHS.

[HiHo]

As this sort ofthing irritates me I've called NHS direct (only number I could get an answer on, my primary care trust doesn't answer phones!) to query what the score is on this and their information team can't get back to me until tomorrow morning. In the meantime if you can definitely confirm whether you were treated as an NHS patient or not.

[bumblelion]

Hello.

We are definitely NHS. Always have been.

Thanks.

[HiHo]

NHS information line didn't get back to me, however if you are an NHS patient and was treated as an NHS patient then you should have only paid £15.90 each from 1st April 2007.

Quote for nhs website

"Band 1 course of treatment

£15.90 - This covers an examination, diagnosis (eg: x-rays), advice on how to prevent future problems, and a scale and polish if needed.

Urgent treatment when you need to see a dentist immediately also costs £15.90."

Seems pretty clear to me.

I would query it.

[HiHo]

NHS helpline got back to me this morning (sunday)

If you are being treated as an NHS patient for a check up, scale and polish after 1st april 2007 you should pay £15.90 each. You cannot be part NHS and private for this type of treatment.

NHS dentists can offer treatments not covered under NHS guidelines, such as cosmetic work, but it should be made very clear what you are paying for.

The lady who I spoke to advice was ask query it and ask why you had to pay £20 instead of £15.90. She felt it may be a 'mistake'.

If that goes nowhere you can try the British Dental Health Foundation on 0845 063 1138 for more advice on charging.

Hope this helps

[bumblelion]

Hello

I phoned the dentist today to ask for an explanation why my friend paid £15.90 with the same surgery but different dentist. The receptionist said to call in and he will have a chat with us. So we did and the dental nurse came out to explain that he is doing "Independant" dentist charging. Thats not private, nor NHS. As the government are not funding NHS dentistry at the moment this is how he charges. I said that it would be good to be told this before treatment and I asked how come my friend was charged the NHS amount a day later with the other dentist. She said that she cannot comment on the other dentist as its up to him how to set charges. She went away and to have a chat with our dentist and came back with the overpaid amount and said the dentist has no time to discuss this and its easier just to refund. She says he will charge NHS rates when he hears from the government that they funding this.
So thats that. We are none the wiser. Probably he wont want to treat us anymore!
Anyone heard of Independant dentistry charges?

[Webmaster]

bumblelion, on first look it sounded like your Dentist was just taking you for a ride and trying to top up his NHS fees, however a quick search on the web shows some other Dentist practices refer to this "Independant" Dental Charges. Most of them seem to charge the same amount as the NHS but seem to want to make sure there is a clear distinction. The best quote I can find is from NHS direct Wales which states:

"Can I register for NHS or private care?
At the outset your dentist will agree with you whether your treatment will be under the NHS, or private, or a mixture of both. If you are not sure at any time, do not hesitate to ask your dentist or receptionist."

So it seems you can have a mixture of NHS and Private care afterall, but this really should have been made clear to you from the outset.

Basically I think the Private/NHS dentist charging schemes and bands are so complicated and change so often that even the Dentists themselves probably have difficulty in working out what they should be charging!

[Webmaster]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11040-2007140622,00.html (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11040-2007140622,00.html)

okay so its from a rather sensationalist newspaper but the general idea seems to be that the Dentists are set a quota of NHS treatments to do per year. If they go over this they stop getting NHS funding. This may well have happened to your Dentist, especially if your treatment was near the end of the financial year (april 5th)

Looks like a complete mess to me.

[HiHo]

Does anyone actually have a clue what is going on???

NHS helpline certainly doesn't and are we saying there is a difference in opinion between NHS England and NHS wales?

I think it refers to the fact that an NHS dentist can do private work if its outside of the set of jobs done on the NHS. As far as I was told by NHS direct they cannot charge more than £15.90 for a check up if treated as an NHS patient. If charged more you were treated as a private patient - even if that reason is because the quota of NHS work was used up.

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=1789 (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=1789)

As can be read at the link the dentist should tell you what the charge should be if you are receiving a mixture of private and NHS care - let alone ceasing to treat you as NHS.

As webmaster said this is a complete and utter shambles.