British Dental Association's Arguments Win Unfair Termination Contract Case

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 11 Dec 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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A Court of Appeal judgement has today rejected the Government's attempts to interpret a clause in a Personal Dental Services (PDS) contract, accepting arguments put forward by the British Dental Association's legal representation. The clause in question would have given primary care trusts (PCTs) the right to terminate a dentist's PDS agreement on minimal notice and without the dentist breaching the terms of their contract.

The Department of Health had argued that the clause was designed to permit PCTs to cancel contracts in areas where they no longer wanted services so that they could spend the money elsewhere, or where the contractor failed to demonstrate continuous improvement. BDA lawyers vigorously refuted this interpretation on behalf of the whole profession saying that it was patently unfair, not in keeping with the wider interpretation of the PDS regulations, and conflicted with existing performance provisions.

Rejecting the Government's appeal, the judgement echoes the BDA's arguments, describing the idea it was intended PCTs be given the right to terminate agreements in such a way "unlikely". It also argues that, if that was the intention, express powers allowing this would have been included in the regulations.

The Department of Health now has one month to lodge an appeal that would pave the way for the case to be taken to the House of Lords, the only remaining higher authority.

Commenting on the ruling BDA Chief Executive Peter Ward said: "This was a case with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences for the profession. The Court of Appeal's judgement recognises the arguments put forward by the BDA on behalf of dentists. It also makes plain that the Department of Health's arguments are considered unreasonable. It is time for the Department to accept that and send a clear signal of support to dentists by acknowledging and accepting the ruling."

The full judgement of the case, which details the ruling and the arguments advanced, is available here.

The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association for dentists in the UK. It represents 23,000 dentists working in general practice, in community and hospital settings, in academia and research, and in the armed forces, and includes dental students.

John Hilsdon
Head of Public Affairs
British Dental Association
http://www.bda.org