The NHS Commissioning Board

From April 2013 the NHS Commissioning Board will be established and will be accountable for improving outcomes for patients.

The Board is there to ensure that services are commissioned in ways to support consistency, achieving higher standards of quality across the country and not centralisation.

The NHSCB will work through its national, regional and local area teams to discharge responsibilities.

The main ambitions for the arrangements are as follows:-

  • A common, core offer for patients of high quality, patient centred primary care Services
  • Continuous improvement in health outcomes and a reduction inequalities
  • Patient engagement and empowerment and a clinical leadership and engagement visibility driving and commissioning agenda
  • The right balance between standardisation/consistency and local empowerment/flexibility.

The Board will work at national level with a range of stakeholders at regional and local level who will be working in partnership with CCGs. The NHSCB will be responsible for planning, securing and monitoring an agreed set of primary care services. From April 2013 contracts will be transferred from PCTs to the NHSCB. Shared service arrangements and in-house arrangements will, subject to local area team implementation, also be transferred to the NHSCB.

The new arrangements will comprise a single operating model for commissioning primary care and will use the£12.6 billion the NHS spends on commissioning primary care to secure best possible outcomes. The local regional and national teams will work in one single system and the central element will provide a framework to ensure consistency in primary care commissioning.

Full details of the announcements are attached in the website set out below: http://www.commissioningboard.nhs.uk/files/2012/06/fact-ex-comm-pc.pdf

Tax Issues

The national press put a spotlight on tax avoidance schemes, highlighting that some schemes have been particularly popular with dentists. Tax issues arise for practices in all sorts ways, and we can help by advising on the most tax efficient way to structure your business, how best to extract your profits, preparing for a sale and much more. We can also advise on maximising your depreciation allowances, and on VAT and PAYE issues. If you do find you are faced with an HMRC investigation, we can assist with this, too.

Groupon deals

The GDC has issued a reminder to dentists and dental care professionals about their responsibilities to patients following offers by companies such as Groupon and Living Social regarding the dental discounts offered on the web.

The current guidelines for the dental profession say they should not make claims which would mislead patients and that they should be trustworthy and honest and ensure that they are not putting their financial interest before their patients' needs. The GDC has reminded dentists that they can take action to restrict or stop dental professionals practising if these standards are not met.

Principles of Ethical Advertising Guide

The GDC has now issued the Principles of Ethical Advertising Guide. From 1 March 2012 all information or publicity material regarding dental services should be legal, decent, honest and truthful. The guide also deals with information which must be displayed on a dental website as well as when dentists may use the title "specialist" to describe themselves.

The onus is on dentists to be honest in their presentation of skills and qualification. Advertising that is false, misleading or has a potential to mislead patients may lead to fitness to practise proceedings and in some circumstances may even be a criminal offence. The link to the guide is: http://www.gdc-uk.org/Newsandpublications/Publications/Publications/Ethical%20advertising%20statement%20Jan%202012.pdf

Joyce Trail Verdict

Joyce Trail has been found guilty of defrauding£1.4 million from the NHS by pretending that she had fixed dentures to dead patients. The dentist, double and triple-claimed on work for elderly patients whom she had never met and for denture fittings for people who were dead (almost 90% of the claims for denture fittings were in "band 3", the most lucrative level of work). The court heard that more that 7,000 claims were backed up by false paperwork. Judge Peter Carr stated: "In your case there is no other option than a substantial sentence of imprisonment, the only thing I need to decide is its length. You abused your position as a professional and you abused your position as a dentist. You have effectively stolen a large amount of money that was not available to an already overstretched health service." Sentencing is to follow. In the meantime Dr Trail together with her sister, Fiona were both cleared of the further charges of perverting the course of justice.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.