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A copy of the correspondence will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33168).

A copy of the correspondence will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33168).

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is in the tables below.

Recovery Values of Claims Made by Dentists Under General Dental Services and Identified by Post Payment Procedures as False or Erroneous¹

Note:

1. Where the recovery period extends over two or more years, the total amount is only allocated to year 1.

Total Value of Claims Made by Dentists Under General Dental Services and Identified By Systems at Pre-Payment Stage as False or Erroneous^1,2,3

Notes:

1. These figures may differfrom other published figures as they are specifically targeted to show false orerroneous rather than incomplete claims.

2. These figures representthe difference between the amount claimed and the amount authorised.

3. A number of these claimsmay subsequently be corrected and re-submitted.

4. The figures for 2004 relate to January to March only.

Investigations by NHSScotlandCounter Fraud Services Into Potentially False Claims by Dentists Under GeneralDental Services 2001-04

Notes:

1. Although the monetaryvalue of this case is small, it raises clinical governance issues.

2. In 2003 apro-active exercise was carried out on gold restorations. The potential forfalse claims involving gold restorations equates to in excess of £400,000. ABulletin was sent to all dentists on NHS board lists highlighting the problem.The impact of the bulletin is being measured currently to determine if thenumber of claims has decreased.

Number of Patient ExemptionClaims Checked by NHSScotland Counter Fraud Services 2000-01¹ and2001-02²

Notes:

1.No dental claims were checked in 2000-01 since the wording of the patientdeclaration on payment claim forms did not allow NHSScotland Counter FraudServices to confirm patient data with other relevant bodies under the DataProtection Act 1998. The wording was amended subsequently.

2.The manual checking system in use enabled reports to be provided only on aScotland-wide basis.

Numberof Patient Exemption Claims Checked by NHSScotland Counter Fraud Services2002-03¹

Note:

1.An automated patient exemption checking system (PECS) developed in 2002003 hasenabled reports to be produced at NHS Board level in a different format.

Numberof Patient Exemption Claims Checked by NHSScotland Counter Fraud Services 2003-04¹

Note:

1.An automated patient exemption checking system developed in 2002-03 has enabledreports to be produced at NHS board level in a different format.

NHSScotland Counter FraudServices have recently completed the first stage of a risk measurementexercise, based on a statistically robust sample of claims paid in February2003, to establish the level of patient fraud and error in Scotland inclaiming exemption from charges in NHS family health services. As a result, thepatient exemption fraud/error level in general dental services is estimated at7.63% with an error margin of plus or minus 1.69%. A second risk measurementexercise will be undertaken in 2005.

Gross Expenditure on NHS General Dental Services; Year Ending March¹

Source: Form 12b (financial return made to Scottish Executive by Practitioner Services).

Notes:

1. Information for period 1999-2000 is not available.

2. Total gross expenditure on NHS general dental services, including the cost of the salaried general dental service and allowances and grants paid to dentists, which do not attract patient charges.

A copy of the correspondence will be placed in Parliament’s Reference Centre.

In addition, the Executive has provided £12.8 million in practice improvement funding and £10 million in commitment payments to dentists since 2001; £2.5 million since 2003 to establish new and support existing emergency dental services; £1.5 million has been identified annually since 1997 for grants under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative; since 2002 £6 million has been identified for recruitment and retention measures. Although this funding is not directly targeted at improving dental health it will have this effect by improving access to NHS general dental services.

Payments to Dentists Taking up Vocational Training in a Designated Area

Source: GP218.

Notes:

1. One of the four claims was paid at £1,000.

Dental Clinical Assistants in Post in NHSScotland (GDP (Para 107 Appointments))

Source: ISD Scotland.

Note:

1. The term “Clinical Assistant” does not occur in the terms and conditions of service (TCS) of hospital medical and dental staff, and therefore does not denote a defined grade. As such the information presented in the table above refers to all part-time general dental practice (GDP) appointments under TCS Paragraph 107, commonly referred to as para 107.

The number of Dental Clinical Assistant posts has been reducing as more use of grades such as Staff Grade and Associate Specialist has been made in response to changing dental service needs.