Can Dental Practices Enforce Mandatory Covid Vaccinations for their staff?
Dental practices and all the staff that work in them are eligible for early vaccination under the Government’s Covid-19 vaccination programme. The question now arises, what can practices do if members of their team decline to take the vaccine? As dental practices owe a duty of care to both their patients and their members of staff, it is now necessary for practice principals...Read More
0
NHS ASSOCIATE PAY DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
We note the BDA’s recent advice entitled; “Associate pay in England during pandemic”, which states as follows: “Legal advice on whether Associates may have a direct claim We have sought legal advice as to whether associates may have a direct claim against practice owners. The short answer is that associates are unlikely to have a claim directly against practice owners in respect of NHS...Read More
0
The CQC – unanswered questions and misinformation
In the past week the CQC appear to have been on something of a charm offensive. We’ve seen John Milne, Senior National Professional Advisor, taking part in webinars on Facebook and meeting with the newly formed ‘British Association of Private Dentists’ (BAPD). The CQC’s published analysis of a meeting that took place on the 19th June 2020 between the CQC and the BAPD is interesting to...Read More
0
Business Interruption Insurance: FCA announce test cases to proceed
On 1st June 2020 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it would be pursuing test cases against 17 different insurers in relation to the interpretation of the their business interruption insurance policy wording. These 17 insurers have agreed to take part in the test cases and an agreement has been signed between the insurers and the FCA as to the conduct of the case....Read More
0
Are Dentists Returning to Work?
If the CQC aren’t stopping dentists, why are Insurers saying no? “The decision to offer dental care services is one for the provider to take.” This is the CQC’s “current position”. However, they are still “encouraging” practitioners to give “proper consideration” to the CDO’s Letters of Preparedness, without giving any indication as to what “proper consideration” actually means. The...Read More
0
CQC Legal Challenge; the fight is on
Sent to our mailing list on 19th May 2020. Yesterday was a very eventful day. The CrowdJustice fund raising page went live at 17:30hrs and by 09:00hrs this morning, had already reached £8,130 from 94 pledges; a clear indication of the strength of feeling in the profession.The page to donate is here. The profession needs your support to take this important case forward. The initial target was...Read More
0
CQC Legal Challenge; the next steps
The CQC have responded to JFH Law’s request for clarification as to the legal basis for their instruction that all practices must stop offering routine or emergency dental care (save where no NHS run UDCC is available). Their response raises as many questions as it answers.The CQC have stated that they support “the government agenda of reducing the risks of COVID19 transmission...Read More
10
Business Interruption Insurance – do you have a claim?
Following the Chief Dental Officer’s announcement on 25th March 2020 that practices should effectively stop all face to face contact with patients, dental practices across the UK shut their doors for the foreseeable future. Naturally, many turned to their business interruption insurance policies to provide cover for the financial losses suffered as a result of the coronavirus COVID-19...Read More
0
NHS and redeployment of your workforce
On 25th March 2020 the CDO and NHS England sent a letter to all NHS dental practices, advising them that they would continue to be paid under their NHS contracts, subject to staff being redeployed. It gave four examples of where staff might be redeployed to, namely urgent dental care centres, supporting the NHS both generally and in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, voluntary or local...Read More
0
Maternity Pay and the Government Job Retention Scheme
The Government has confirmed that it will pay 80% of an employee’s wages, up to £2,500, for any employee who is furloughed by their employer. However, in our opinion, you will not be able to furlough an employee who is due to start maternity leave or already on maternity leave, so as to avoid paying that person statutory maternity pay (SMP). What should you be Paying? For a woman already on...Read More
0