Local Dental Committees (LDCs) from across England are supporting a BDA campaign calling for the Government to address dentists' mounting concerns about the burden of red tape on general dental practice.

Attendees at the 2010 LDC Officials' Day, which took place at London's Hotel Russell on Friday 3 December, interrupted their day to pledge support for the campaign and urge colleagues around the country to do the same. More than sixty officers, representing Local Dental Committees from across the length and breadth of England, threw their weight behind the campaign which calls for action on concerns about the registration of practices with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Dr Mick Armstrong, Chair of the Local Dental Committees, said: "CQC registration is a cause of anxiety for practitioners across England. The ability of dentists to care for their patients is under threat from increasing amounts of red tape. The registration of practices with the CQC threatens not only to increase the administrative burden on practices, but also to rob practices of significant sums of money they could better use in improving patient services. LDCs are proud to back this campaign which calls for a commonsense approach that puts patient care first."

The campaign is calling on dentists in England to send a copy of a postcard produced by the BDA to their Member of Parliament. The postcard asks MPs to write to Secretary of State Andrew Lansley requesting that he simplifies the arrangements for the CQC's registration of dental practices so that it does not duplicate functions carried out elsewhere, ensures that the registration fee for dental practices is set at a reasonable level, and delays the deadline for registration to allow these issues to be addressed.

Postcards have been distributed to BDA members inside copies of the December 2010 edition of BDA News. Postcards were also made available to delegates at LDC Officials' Day.

The names of the individuals and the Local Dental Committees they represent who appear in the photograph are: Mick Armstrong (Wakefield and 2010 Chair of Local Dental Committees) John Atkins (Wiltshire), Richard Beioley (West Sussex), Martin Buckle (Devon), John Colquitt (Bolton), David Cooper (Sandwell), Andrew Dale (Derby City), Donald Daniels (Tees), Jaswinder Dhariwal (Berkshire), Ian Duthie (Croydon), Tim Hogan (Kent), John Gatus (Doncaster), David Gingell (Sandwell), Ian Gordon (North Yorkshire), Mark Green (North Yorkshire), Toby Hancock (West Sussex), Jenny Herbert (Northants), Gary Irvine (Somerset), Barry Kinshuck (Wigan), Dudley Knight (Croydon), Roger Levy (Enfield and Haringey), Mahendra Makan (Enfield and Haringey), Alyn Morgan (Bradford), Malc Newsome (Stockport), Keith Percival (Hampshire and Isle of Wight), Ralph Pickup (East Lancashire), Mark Preston (Essex), Paul Rolfe (Suffolk), Moor Sacoor (Ealing), Mike Simpson (South Cheshire), Barry Westwood (Surrey), Zuber Bagasi (Lancashire Coastal), Steve Bass (Central Lancashire), Sabar Bhandal (Bedfordshire), John Cantwell (Avon), Peter Cartwright (Durham), Shawn Charlwood (Lincolnshire), Simon Crichard (Gloucestershire), Steve Croston (Liverpool), Andrew Dale (Derby City), Nick Daley (Liverpool), Marie-Louise Duthie (Liverpool), Mohammed Fiaz (Coventry), Mark Flett (Mid Mersey), Carole Hollins (North Staffordshire), Sabar Hussain (Mid Mersey), Gordon David Kettlewell (Manchester), Richard McEvoy (Dudley), Nadeem Mohammad (Bury), Adam Morby (South Staffordshire), Leo O'Hara (Gloucestershire), Paresh Patel (Barnet), Dharmen Patel (Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth), Jonathan Randall (Hertfordshire), Alan Ross (Barnet), Derek Scoular (Wigan), William Sidhu (Coventry), Ravi Solanki (Worcestershire), Deepak Songra (Milton Keynes), Richard Statham (Walsall), Nick Stolls (Norfolk), Julian Unter (Kent), Lionel Williams (Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth), Jim Lafferty (Sheffield), Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen (London LDCs), Toby Dignum (Wolverhampton) and Dave Cottam (Birmingham).

Source:
British Dental Association