To minimise the number of emails sent to practices across the Central Midlands, NHS England is using this regular bulletin as its main method of communication with Dental Practices.
If there are any queries, please use the following emails as your first point of contact:
The bulletin contains important information for Dental Practices, which might include requests for information and deadlines, as well as updates on issues relating to dental contracts.
Please share the Dental Bulletins with ALL the staff within your practice.
Please find attached an updated process for reporting Serious Incidents and a ‘Just Culture Guide’ as a useful aid. Please note that contractually it is a responsibility in addition to any requirements of notification elsewhere in the Contract, for the Contractor to notify the Board as soon as reasonably practicable.
2. Procurement of MOS, Sedation and Restorative Services/button>
NHS England is planning to commission “bundles” of MOS, sedation and restorative services contained within single PDS Agreements in a number of areas across the Central Midlands. This will replace existing contracts and in many areas improve access to these referral services.
Our Managed Clinical Networks will be helping to develop the referral criteria, locations and other aspects of the specification which is provided to you here as a consultation document.
A Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been published on Contracts Finder with an invitation to register and attend a Market Engagement Event and this can be accessed via the following link.
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/75e74e44-c754-4683-bb9d-0ac04f770448
3. Auto rollover of NPE/NPEE
The following message was sent to you via the BSA of the contracts impacted by the auto rollover process. If you had missed it, please action as soon as possible as it is important.
At the end of the financial year the performer NPE/NPEE for the current year in Compass is rolled over to the following financial year. For any performers who started part way through the year the value for the month of March is pro-rated up to the full year amount for the next year. If the value for March is not accurate then this pro-rating can artificially inflate the value for the year and can mean that the Pensionable Ceiling is exceeded and performers may pay large amounts of pension contributions.
Please therefore review your Performer NPE/NPEE for 2018/2019 and, if necessary, amend to the correct annual value and submit any changes to the dental team.
4. Amalgam Guidance
Please see attached a copy of a letter which is being sent by the Chief Dental Officer England to all dental contract holders. We would greatly appreciate it if you could ensure that this important letter is cascaded to all staff.
5. Referral Management Service (RMS) update
Central Midlands Dental Referral Management System went live on 29th March 2018.
Please see attached some interesting information and activity about the RMS service.
FDS Consultants who provide the RMS service for Central midlands will provide 1 to 1 support if providers have any problems relating to the referral process.
For practices that still haven’t signed up process from start to finish can be completed within 10 minutes, if providers ring 0845 8620 841.
Referral forms and guidance are all located on the FDS website: https://www.dental-referrals.org/dentists/referral-forms/
If Patients or dentists want to track a referrals progress type in urn.name (as below) into your web brouser and enter the patients URN details.
6. Year end
In June of each financial year, NHS Dental Services (NHS DS) provides Commissioners with the actual level of dental activity delivered against your contract during the last financial year.
This will be the total of the notifications sent by you to NHS DS by way of FP17 submissions on completed courses of treatment.
NHS DS provides you with a monthly total of these notifications. Please check the NHS DS information against your software on a regular basis.
The NHS England dental teams are not able to adjust the totals, so if you dispute the figures provided, you should liaise directly with NHS DS for resolution by 31 May.
7. PBX Fraud Alert
Northamptonshire Police want to make all Dental Practices in their area aware of a fraud which is currently circulating. Please see the attached flier which gives further details.
8. Adding a performer and new Compass contract allocation form
Contractors now have the facility to add, remove or update the NPE/NPEE for the performers delivering the services. Once amendments have been made you will need to complete a form and send to your Local Team. The form has been revised with the agreement of NHS England and the Finance User Group the Authorisation Form and Contract Allocation Form (CAF) have now been combined into one. Here is the new form to download and once completed email to the appropriate address:
so a member of the dental team can approve the changes. Details are on the BSA website and here is a link to their ‘how to’ Guide.
Any changes made must be approved by the dental team before the next cut-off date or the information uploaded will be deleted. Please ensure all sections of the completed and sent in at least five working days before the cut-off dates to enable time for the team to approve the changes.
As of this date this process will be implemented Central Midlands wide. Help and guidance on any part of the process can be accessed via the BSA website by clicking on this link: NHS BSA Compass Help and Guidance
9. Safeguarding contacts
Please see the local Safeguarding leads for your policies:
10. Procurement training
The dental team have received several queries from potential procurement bidders on how they can access training on submitting tenders.
Primary Care Commissioning (PCC) is advertising a level 1 bid writing workshop on ‘how to write the winning bid: responding to tenders and proposals’. The dates showing are Tuesday 15 May 2018 and Tuesday 12 June 2018.
Follow this link and click on the relevant date. https://www.pcc-cic.org.uk/
11. NHS Choices editing rights
It is important for your business that you keep your practice NHS Choices details up to date, from our understanding this responsibility will be mandated in the future contractually.
All NHS dental practices are listed on NHS Choices and patients are increasingly using the website with the aim to a primary care service as well as leave feedback on the service they have received. It is not helpful for the patient or the practice if the information is out of date which may then result in unnecessary calls and expense. Many practices details have now been greyed out as it they have not been updated in several months. To obtain editing rights please complete the attached form below and send to:
[email protected]
12. FP17 electronic submissions mandated
Regulations came into force on 1st December 2017 but the amendments made to the GDS and PDS Regulations will take effect from the 1 May 2019. This is so that practices that are not computerised would have enough time to acquire computer equipment or software in order to be able to comply with the law.
For clarity, as of 1 May 2019 you will only be able to submit FP17s electronically to the NHS Dental Services (BSA). There will be an electronic solution for the remaining small number of contracts that do not have practice software. We would encourage you to make sure you have an NHS mail account that is maintained regularly so it does not elapse and therefore terminate.
13. Preparing for the GDPR
Please see the 12 steps you need to take (if you haven’t already done it) in preparation for the new General Data Protection Regulation
NHS Dental Services has published a new privacy notice to make it easier for patients to find out how the BSA handles dental information.
There is also guidance available to help you understand how to manage your FFT activity in line with GDPR legislation
14. BDA CDS Group East Midlands Division annual study day
Please see the following link and the attached flyer/booking form for the BDA CDS Group East Midlands Division annual study day on Friday 22nd June 2018.
The topics this year include Gerodontology and Special Care.
There is a fantastic group of speakers; a Medicine for the Elderly Consultant, a Special Care Consultant and a Dental Therapist. Not only is this a fantastic opportunity to earn 6 hours CPD, but the AGM (BDA members only) also takes place, which will give an update on local and national politics. It is a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues from across the region.
I do hope you can attend. Please contact me should you have any queries.[email protected] [email protected]
15. Provider NPE/NPEE contract changes 2017/18
A number of Providers are changing the 2017/18 NPE/NPEE values for Performers via the Contract Amend functionality in Compass. We are unable to accept these changes and they will be rejected. For any changes that relate to 2017/18 NPE/NPEE the Provider needs to complete via the Annual Reconciliation Report (ARR) which has been available to Providers on Compass from 3 April 2018 and was communicated to Providers in the Compass Dentists Bulletin.
The annual pension reconciliation report (ARR) for 2017/18 is still available for Providers and Performers to complete via Compass. Please could we encourage Providers and Performers to complete the ARR process by 30/06/2018 as this is a contractual obligation and failure to comply may result in further investigation.
Please see the enclosed guide with information and advice on how to complete the 2017/18 ARR process.
The Dental Team
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