Confusing dental services ‘leave patients in severe pain’, ombudsman warns
Confusing dental services are leaving patients in severe pain, with one woman waiting eight years for treatment, an ombudsman has warned.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found cases where patients fell through the gaps between local dentists and hospital services.
One woman, Anne, waited eight years for treatment for broken teeth after a series of delays and problems caused by NHS England (NHSE).
The 58-year-old from South Devon broke a front tooth and damaged another in an accident in 2017 but her dentist said they could not treat her and referred her to hospital.
During that time, the damage to her teeth made it difficult to eat. She worked as a teacher and told PHSO she was told her appearance was not professional enough to teach face-to-face.
The NHS trust that received her referral said she fell into a gap between primary and secondary care and advised her to pursue the issue with NHSE.
In 2019, Anne was fitted with a denture after funding was approved through an individual funding request (IFR) to NHSE.
However, the denture type was clinically unsuitable for her overbite and gag reflex.
Anne said: “Following the provision of this inappropriate treatment the NHS hospital consultants and I chased NHSE for the treatment I needed.
“I feel that NHSE, despite knowing that I met the criteria for treatment, found ways to delay. I explicitly told them I did not want more opinions or appointments about treatment planning, but that was all I received for a long time.
“My patient journey was marred by NHSE not completing actions within promised timescales, not responding to emails and phone calls, and supplying inaccurate or incomplete information.
“Importantly, against my wishes, NHSE sent me for another five consultant treatment planning appointments.
“The first hospital consultant had already identified the treatment I needed; the only problem was how NHSE was going to deliver it. I did not need eight treatment planning appointments with multiple consultants.”
The PHSO found NHSE failed to manage her care properly and told it to acknowledge its failings, apologise and pay £1,200 in “recognition of missed opportunity for earlier treatment, and significant complaint handling delays causing distress”.
Even though NHSE should respond to complaints within 40 days, it took over two years to reply to Anne and did not address the issues raised or give comprehensive answers to specific questions, the PHSO said.
Anne said: “Had I known that NHSE would not deliver the care I needed for eight years, or if they had refused to provide the treatment, I could have changed my career to one where my appearance did not matter and saved up to pay privately for the treatment I needed. I could have solved my dental issues much earlier…
“I’ve estimated that over 20 hours of NHS hospital consultant time has been spent on ‘treatment planning’ to deliver the two hours of treatment I actually needed. I seriously question whether that is an effective use of NHS resources.”
In another case, Claire was left in severe pain for over a year after a dental practice failed to arrange appropriate follow-up treatment for faulty NHS root canal work.
Claire, from North Somerset, developed an infection and, when she returned to the practice, was told it could not provide restorative treatment because the original dentist had left.
The practice referred Claire to a local NHS hospital, despite knowing she was not eligible for treatment there under local commissioning arrangements and later directed her towards private care.
Claire did not want to pay privately for treatment to correct NHS care that had failed.
“My experience with the dental practice was extremely disappointing,” she said.
“The treatment process was drawn out unnecessarily and left me dealing with side-effects that lasted for years.
“I felt dismissed and fobbed off when raising concerns, and there was a real lack of personal care throughout and after the treatment, despite the issues it caused.
“Even now, I remain unsure whether the practice has truly taken accountability for the issues caused by their dentist.
“The apology I received felt more like sympathy that I felt there was a problem, rather than sincere remorse for the impact the treatment had on me.”
The PHSO told the practice to apologise to Claire and pay compensation.
PHSO Paula Sussex said: “Patients should be able to access the right treatment at the right time. Anne was unable to get the treatment she needed for eight years. That is an unacceptable delay.
“This is not an isolated issue and there may be systemic problems in the commissioning of services across multiple areas in the NHS.
“We have concerns that the system is confusing for patients, as well as those responsible for managing and delivering NHS services, is not consistently meeting people’s needs, and is letting patients down.”
She said NHSE “has committed to sharing learning from our investigation”.
Published: by Radio NewsHub