A letter to the editor
NewsPosted by: manpreet.boora 1st December 2017
Dear Editor,
For the time that you have allowed the Ex-Chief Dental Officer the column space in your magazine to rewrite history, in an attempt to create a legacy of his period in office, I have resisted the urge to reply to the thoughts of Mr Cockcroft.
But his column in November’s edition I am afraid prompted me from my efforts to ignore what he writes, to respond to the fantasy opinion pieces as I believe it’s time to respond to his sniping comments every month about the BDA.
It is quite remarkable that the CQC continue to find such high levels of compliance within our profession suffering from the effects of his bestowal, which year on year gets harder and harder for my colleagues to survive within the ever squeezed NHS and the failed contract of 2006. This contract is indeed the legacy of the CDO.
He complains about the negative when indeed it’s very hard to see many positives. I gave an interview on Radio Cumbria recently, speaking about a contract owned by the very Corporate he is now a Director of, which could not survive in Appleby-in-Westmorland and closed down with three months’ notice. Maybe Barry thinks this is good news? Perhaps his Board Meetings are joyous occasions where mydentist report a £3.6 million drop in NHS revenue for the last quarter?
The prospect of NHS England raising an extra £200 million from patients within this Parliament is obviously more good news and will encourage those just above the exemption category to attend a dentist with a 10% rise in the last two years on what they pay for NHS Dentistry. Also, the good news is that patients who fail to understand the exemption categories will be fined £100, 40,000 reasons to celebrate for the treasury, but sadly not for those harshly fined.
Perhaps we should rejoice in the clawback figures exceeding £80 million for NHS England, the recruitment crisis in dental practices, the legal disputes between the BDA and NHS England over Orthodontic Procurement and Patient Charge removal without UDA credits on late submitted or overproduced UDAs. Perhaps Barry can point me towards some more positive stories.
With surveys showing the morale of the profession is at an all-time low and younger dentists seeing their future away from the NHS, we are surrounded by positivity only in the world that exists for the Ex CDO.
No matter how many column inches Barry is allowed by you in the months to come, the profession will know the effects of his time and his legacy, which I am afraid is not at all positive. Perhaps that’s the negativity he really fears. I can only be thankful he is trying to influence the past and has no further influence on the future.
Eddie Crouch
Vice Chair BDA PECA
