DT News - UK - BDA demands relaxation of requirements after contract system failures

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 3 March 2016

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LONDON, UK: In February, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) launched a new dental contract management system called Compass. Since then, practices have reported a number of recurring issues, such as login problems and issues adding dentists to contracts, according to the British Dental Association (BDA). The organisation has now urged the NHSBSA to ensure that practitioners not be penalised for these failures.

In a letter, it has called on the NHS to ease requirements, including a relaxation of the two-month deadline for submitting claims, until the problems have been fixed. It has also recommended not issuing breach notices for performance between 90 and 96 per cent and that for practices that underperform between 90 and 100 per cent this be carried over to 2016/2017.

Furthermore, the BDA has suggested that practices that over-perform by up to 10 per cent either be paid for it or have it deducted from next year’s total.

“Nothing in the chequered history of NHS IT projects gave us any reason to think the launch of Compass would be plain sailing,” said Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, chairperson of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee. “Now many colleagues are sitting at their computers pulling their hair out, with no way of telling what their exact performance is.”

“NHS practitioners, through no fault of their own, are now in danger of not submitting claims within 62 days and missing their UDA [units of dental activity] targets. Clearly these are more than just teething troubles,” he added.

The BDA said that it was assured the system would work properly despite its concerns about introducing a new system close to the end of the financial year. Compass has replaced the dental portal and Payments Online and adds more flexibility and functionality for both dentists and commissioners, according to the NHSBSA.

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