Tricky questions

Last month’s Francis Enquiry Report into Mid-Staffs Hospital, and particularly its management and systems, made for uncomfortable reading, at least for the public.

Writing in The Times, Dr Phil Hammond, hospital doctor and speaker at the BDA conference two years ago, had some even more forthright words, saying: “The Department of Health exists to ‘manage’ bad news, protect reputations, suppress dissent and deliver only good news.”

That attitude, says Hammond, goes to the heart of the NHS organisation. We have all heard or read in the media of whistle-blowers being victimised and even dismissed for having the temerity to report instances of sub-standard care.

In dentistry, the situation is little better. Whilst, as the CQC’s report on the State of Care showed unequivocally, the vast majority of dental patients are treated safely, appropriately and efficiently, there are, as we all know, a small fraction of practitioners and professionals who more or less consistently fail to meet acceptable standards.