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In part two of his article, Kevin Lewis looks at reflections, illuminations and tales of the unexpected from the GDC’s discussion document, Shifting the balance: a better, fairer system of dental regulation. Having dissected out the key themes of Shifting the balance in the first of these articles, we will now turn our attention more…
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The government is grossly misleading patients over who bears the cost of NHS dental treatments, believes Kevin Lewis. The fact that the NHS dental charges levied from non-exempt patients were increased as from 1 April 2017 by about 4.5% – well ahead of the rate of inflation – is noteworthy in itself. The fact that…
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Kevin Lewis takes the opportunity to look more closely at the issues raised in the General Dental Council’s discussion document, Shifting the balance: a better, fairer system of dental regulation. Part one – core themes Everyone needs a plan. The GDC published Shifting the Balance earlier this year alongside the latest (2017) update on its…
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A new look at CPD is a welcome sign for dental professionals, says Kevin Lewis. We have entered the final few weeks of the initial call for comments in response to the the GDC’s discussion document, Shifting the Balance: towards a better, fairer system of dental regulation. For that reason I will take the opportunity…
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Kevin Lewis discusses potential issues after the discount rates applied to personal injury claims were dropped from +2.5% to -0.75%. The past few weeks have brought several stark reminders of the multiplicity of challenges facing NHS general dental practitioners, and of the paucity of options available to them in terms of managing their predicament without…
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Kevin Lewis compares patients’ perceptions of dentists in the UK and the US. As the deadline for this column approaches, I find myself in the the US where I am lecturing at a conference in Chicago, Illinois, and combining this with some meetings in the adjacent state of Indiana. But this temporary separation from the…
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Kevin Lewis takes a closer looks at the GDC’s Shifting the balance: a better, fairer system of dental regulation. As January drew to a close, the GDC published its call to arms, ‘Shifting the balance: a better, fairer system of dental regulation’. Would it be too cynical to suggest that the timing of the release…
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The NHS is telling dentists to offer all necessary treatments to patients, but not offering the funding for these services, Kevin Lewis says. Reading about the alleged New Year spat between the Prime Minister and Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, I was struck by the different sets of rules that seem to apply for…
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Big corporate bodies should be held accountable when things go wrong, rather than blaming dentists and treating them like commodities, Kevin Lewis says. Marilyn Monroe was almost exactly the same age as the Queen – until her premature death. So she would have enjoyed her 90th birthday last year, just a few weeks after QEII’s…
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Kevin Lewis runs through some soundbites from 2016. What kind of a year was that, then? In a year that was never short of surprises and which featured Brexit, Brentrance, Top Trumps, Rockbottom Trumps and the emerging prospect of a second ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for the population of Scotland, there have been so…
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Kevin Lewis highlights the unfair media attention dentists receive compared with other healthcare professionals. Whether you prefer the Australian description of ‘rorting’ (abusing or taking unfair advantage of) a system, or the colloquial British version of ‘ripping off’, many improbable yarns have been spun in recent weeks about sharp practices in healthcare. Dentists – as…
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We need to strike a good work-life balance if we are going to enjoy our best years in dentistry and after we retire, Kevin Lewis says. A career in dentistry spans, for most people, what might be described as the best years of their lives. Put aside for a moment the two phases of life…
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The GDC needs to toe the line if it is to fulfil its aims and stay within its remit, Kevin Lewis says. Good news comes in many disguises, and tends to secure far fewer headlines than bad news. How galling it must be for the General Dental Council (GDC), therefore, to emerge from another budget…
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Kevin Lewis highlights the different levels of scrutiny healthcare workers are held to, compared with managers and regulators. We are going a bit upmarket for the duration of this column. My starting point is none other than Homer – and I can sense that you are impressed already. Lovers of classical poetry and literature will…
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Kevin Lewis weighs up the latest round of NHS junior doctors’ strikes in England. Lost in all the noise and acrimony of the junior doctors’ dispute is the fact that the unilateral imposition of a new contract on the junior doctors is not a UK-wide issue. It is only being mooted in England and driven…
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Kevin Lewis reviews the latest ‘dental horror chronicles’ published in the media. Was it something we said, perhaps? Or is anyone prepared to ‘fess up to having been particularly horrid to a journalist recently? A torrent of abuse rained down upon the dental profession from different parts of the media in early August and seemed…
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Kevin Lewis reviews the latest ‘dental horror chronicles’ published in the national media Was it something we said, perhaps? Or is anyone prepared to ‘fess up to having been particularly horrid to a journalist recently? A torrent of abuse rained down upon the dental profession from different parts of the media in early August and seemed…
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With all the political reshuffling going on and a vote for Brexit, Kevin Lewis tries to make sense of it all. The phrase ‘a week is a long time in politics’ is generally attributed to the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Along with the rest of his party colleagues he had waited through 13 long…
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The success of the CQC in dentistry is a story that has slipped under the radar, Kevin Lewis says. Time is a great healer, they say. And so, I might suggest, is putting the right people in place, showing that you are willing to listen and not least demonstrating that you encourage feedback (warts and…
