Posted by
Allan Radman on Sunday, October 21, 2007 3:05:54 AM
Didn't know Home Depot would be my source of dental tools...
Monday, 15 October 2007, 15:17 GMT 16:17 UK
Many 'cannot get NHS dental care'
Many NHS dental patients in England are being forced to pay for private care, go without treatment or even pull out their own teeth, a survey suggests.
The survey of 5,200 patients for an NHS feedback body found 20% had refused treatment because of high cost and 6% had treated themselves at some point.
Most of those going private said they could not get NHS treatment locally.
The Health Committee, a group of MPs, has announced an inquiry into the new dental contract, introduced last year.
Of 750 dentists polled, 84% said their new contract had failed to improve access to NHS services for patients.
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7041291.stm
Welcome to "The Dark Ages of Dentistry"
Saturday, 15 September 2007, 07:25 GMT 08:25 UK
'Standards drop' in NHS dentistry
Reforms of NHS dentistry mean some patients are receiving substandard care, critics claim.
Dental Laboratories Association figures show a drop in the number of complex treatments, like dentures, carried out since the new contract began in April.
The DLA says financial rather than clinical concerns are driving decisions - to the detriment of patients.
But the government says the new contract was designed to cut unnecessary complex treatments.
'Dark Ages of dentistry'
The chief dental officer, Barry Cockcroft, said dentists will still act "ethically and clinically" in the best interests of the patient.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme he refuted suggestions by DLA chief executive Richard Daniels that the service was "going back to the Dark Ages of dentistry".
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6995477.stm
Another government-sponsored health care system...including broom.
Friday, 19 October 2007, 15:43 GMT 16:43 UK
Chinese divided on health reforms
By Jill McGivering
BBC News, Hubei province |
China's Communist leaders have overhauled the healthcare system, intending to make it more affordable for the poor. But are the reforms exacerbating China's problems?
I visited a small village in Hubei province - a cluster of old and new houses set in paddy and wheat fields.
The doctor, Cho Yuen, was in her small clinic sweeping the cement floor, alongside an old-fashioned shop counter stacked with dusty packets of pills.
When she had finished sweeping she put on her white coat, ready for patients.
She has been the doctor here for 40 years, she says proudly. The system is better than before, she adds, because patients have more choice.
Her wages are paid by the village committee, she says. The patients pay only for the pills. Anyone who cannot afford medicine can apply for financial help.
Tiered system
Her positive picture would delight Professor Wang Bao-zhen, an expert on healthcare at Wuhan University and an adviser to China's Ministry of Health.
Prof Wang told me about the latest attempt by the Chinese government in Beijing to help the rural poor.
Many in the countryside are struggling to cope with the new burden of health fees, a result of the collapse of the old state-funded health system which existed before China's programme of economic reforms.
Editorial
The Japanese healthcare system
The Japanese medical insurance system has a unique combination of characteristics that has led to the overuse of tests and drugs, unconstrained demand from patients, and an explosion of costs. Unless the system of medical insurance and reimbursement of healthcare providers changes, the combination of increasing technological advances, an ageing population, and unconstrained demand will produce a crisis in Japanese health care. Japan is only belatedly waking up to this crisis
Source: BMJ 2005;331:648-649 (24 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7518.648
Australia...
October 20, 2007
Medicos seize the moment
BABIES born in hospital toilets or on waiting-room floors, elderly women wheeled into medical store-rooms, operations repeatedly postponed despite hospitals being choked by patients needing help: cases like these have horrified the public and propelled health into the front row of election issues.
source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22611139-23289,00.html