Request for advice

[Curtain Razor]

Is a Judicial Review the only way of redressing misdemeanours involving dentists’ negligence and bias from the PCT and the Ombudsman?

Is a Judicial Review also the only option to address dentist issues where they give misleading information putting patients’ teeth at further risk and duping them into paying for items that they weren't told could have been obtained free of charge?

If this is the only option available, many including myself can’t afford these expensive and complicated reviews, and what gravely concerns me is that the people in question will know they can always get away with whatever they like at the expense of each patient, including me again, if any further mishaps were to recur. It seems patients have no proper protection and can be walked over easily.

 

[carole]

Hi WELCOME to the forum

If you are in the UK you can contact the GDC and explain your complaint. They take complaints very seriously. They cannot refund you any money spent or find you another dentist but they do make a dentist behave him/herself. They have the power to strike off dentists from the register which means they cannot practice.

 

[Spike 1969]

Hello and welcome

Carole is right, the General Dental Council is the professional body governing dental professionals in the UK and would be my first port of call for matters involving misconduct amongst the profession. They have their own independent complaints procedure and if a dental professional is found to have breached the rules governing their behaviour and activities they can be ordered to re-train, undergo supervision or be struck off the register of dental professionals allowed to practice legally in the UK.

If you google the GDC it's all there on the website.

hope that this helps.

kind Regards

 

[Dr. Daniel]

Hi,
You can write reviews on the net (in as many sites as possible).

 

[Tome]

Hi, you can contact your MP (Member of parliament) who will take up your case with the PCT.

If it was a proveable case of medical negligence you could bring a case against the dentist (but, what the law considers medical negligence may be different to what a layman considers, so seek advise) .

 

[Curtain Razor]

Hi WELCOME to the forum

If you are in the UK you can contact the GDC and explain your complaint. They take complaints very seriously. They cannot refund you any money spent or find you another dentist but they do make a dentist behave him/herself. They have the power to strike off dentists from the register which means they cannot practice.

Thanks.

I wish I'd known about this forum a lot sooner. As the PCT is now part of NHS England, I suspect I have no hope of getting anywhere. The parties concerned only told me what they wanted to know, so as to avoid responsibility.

The original dentist should have been severely reprimanded and the opportunist, biased PCT dentist shouldn't have asked or passed on to the original dentist the type of action I wanted, whose details he used to exonerate the original dentist. All parties concerned have not taken my complaint seriously, including the Ombudsman.

It's appalling how I was duped into paying for an item that was available free of charge independently and that I can't reclaim this wasted money back, which I was never told could be obtained free.

The difficulty in reporting negligent, biased people is proving it, and who is willing to take notice, as from personal experiences, all parties concerned have pulled rank. This is why I haven't pursued other issues in case my current, genuinely caring dentist strikes me off and anyone recognises what I describe, even though all parties concerned prior to him took liberties at my expense including the dentist who charged me a fee being automatically backed up by his boss, both of whom didn't fulfill their promises to give me a referral which put my teeth at risk for almost a year when I should have been supplied a Free tooth guard. I had to pay for one before I was allowed a referral for a free one. No mention that I could have one made free of charge until After I had paid for the original, unsuitable one.

 

[Curtain Razor]

Hello and welcome

Carole is right, the General Dental Council is the professional body governing dental professionals in the UK and would be my first port of call for matters involving misconduct amongst the profession. They have their own independent complaints procedure and if a dental professional is found to have breached the rules governing their behaviour and activities they can be ordered to re-train, undergo supervision or be struck off the register of dental professionals allowed to practice legally in the UK.

If you google the GDC it's all there on the website.

hope that this helps.

kind Regards

Like the others, your information is very helpful.

I don't know how much of a time span there is from the point patients make a complaint and if they get nowhere, as I was only ever told what dentists and the Ombudsman wanted me to know. The complaints procedures I went through amounted to nothing, as the parties concerned automatically backed up the people I was complaining about, completely wasting my time.

The 'best' that was offered concerning the original dentist was that he would be supervised for a year which meant he wasn't reprimanded, as he should have been. The PCT and Ombudsman were unwilling to accept reality, treating me as if I were to blame for other people's failings.

 

[Curtain Razor]

Hi,
You can write reviews on the net (in as many sites as possible).

This is a very good idea, but I'm not sure which sites to complain on and I'm concerned that, with previous rank pulling, I could be struck off by my current dentist, if he or any of his colleagues recognise my complaint and decided to pull rank.

It's Catch 22, but I'm certainly far from happy how the parties in question have taken advantage of my complaints and duped me into paying for an item that I was never given the option to obtain free of charge.

 

[Curtain Razor]

Hi, you can contact your MP (Member of parliament) who will take up your case with the PCT.

If it was a proveable case of medical negligence you could bring a case against the dentist (but, what the law considers medical negligence may be different to what a layman considers, so seek advise) .

I tried the MP / PCT route, which should have amounted to something, but instead the PCT dentist manipulated the very little I said, sided with the original dentist, making me out to be responsible for the condition of my teeth, exaggerating and fabricating information, and the only option I was offered by my MP and CAB was a Judicial Review, which dentists and Ombudsman alike know very well most people can't afford, thus I and other patients' complaints are treated as a complete joke.

My MP told me that he has no powers to take up my case with the PCT.

 

[Spike 1969]

Like the others, your information is very helpful.

I don't know how much of a time span there is from the point patients make a complaint and if they get nowhere, as I was only ever told what dentists and the Ombudsman wanted me to know. The complaints procedures I went through amounted to nothing, as the parties concerned automatically backed up the people I was complaining about, completely wasting my time.

The 'best' that was offered concerning the original dentist was that he would be supervised for a year which meant he wasn't reprimanded, as he should have been. The PCT and Ombudsman were unwilling to accept reality, treating me as if I were to blame for other people's failings.

Hi Curtain Razor

Sorry to hear you are struggling to get any kind of redress via the usual route(s). I'm not sure how long it takes for a complaint to be assessed by the GDC Discipline/ethics panel.

I had had a look on the GDC website and they list their upcoming and previous disciplinary cases along with outcomes and many have a PDF report so it might be worth your while checking to see if the dentist in question is on that list. It also might be worth giving them a call to try and find out what's going on.

I very much hope you get somewhere with this matter.

kind Regards

 

[Curtain Razor]

Hi Curtain Razor

Sorry to hear you are struggling to get any kind of redress via the usual route(s). I'm not sure how long it takes for a complaint to be assessed by the GDC Discipline/ethics panel.

I had had a look on the GDC website and they list their upcoming and previous disciplinary cases along with outcomes and many have a PDF report so it might be worth your while checking to see if the dentist in question is on that list. It also might be worth giving them a call to try and find out what's going on.

I very much hope you get somewhere with this matter.

kind Regards

Hi Spike

Thanks for your update.

It's very disappointing, and I imagine I'm probably not alone, in finding that services that claim to be on the side of patients pull rank and the side with the very people patients complain about. All parties concerned give a bad name to the many good people in the Dentist world who put Patients first.

Do you or any others know if dentists are legally allowed to charge a fee for a tooth guard - before - they arrange for a referral to a patient?

I was charged for a guard without being given the option to obtain one free of charge via a referral.

I should have been given full details about my options so as to not pay for something that should have been made free. At the very least, it's totally immoral.

Given the obstructions I've had from the dentists and Ombudsman parties in question, pulling rank and siding with people they claim did nothing wrong, I sadly don't think I'd get anywhere, even if I do pursue this. I am far from happy that an accumulation of unacceptable situations have occurred and nobody has been made accountable for them due to blatant bias.