BDA: dentists must not pay price for failure of Compass system
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- Published: Tuesday, 01 March 2016 07:42
- Written by News Editor
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The British Dental Association (BDA) has insisted that practices are not penalised following IT failures in the new NHS ‘Compass’ system, which could leave many failing to meet contractual requirements. The BDA had expressed grave concerns about bringing in a new system so close to the end of the financial year, but had received repeated assurances from the BSA that these concerns were misplaced.
Many dentists are reporting errors on the new ‘Compass’ system, which was rolled out by the Business Services Authority (BSA) to offer “more flexibility and functionality for both dentists and commissioners”. Many practices are now reporting login problems, error messages, and issues with adding dentists to contracts. There are also understood to be issues with software systems. The BDA has now written to the BSA setting out steps it must take to ensure these problems are resolved responsibly.
The BDA is now seeking:
- A relaxation of the 2 month deadline to submit claims;
- That breach notices should not be issued for performance between 90 and 96 per cent;
- That practices that under-perform between 90 to 100 per cent should have this carried over to 2016/17;
- That practices that over-perform by up to 10 per cent should either be paid for it or have it deducted from next year’s total.
Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, Chair of the General Dental Practice Committee said:
“When the BSA unveiled its plans to launch a new contract management system so close to the end of the financial year we urged caution. Nothing in the chequered history of NHS IT projects gave us any reason to think the launch of Compass would be plain sailing. Now many colleagues are sitting at their computers pulling their hair out, with no way of telling what their exact performance is. NHS practitioners, through no fault of their own, are now in danger of not submitting claims within 62 days and missing their UDA targets. Clearly these are more than just 'teething troubles', and the BSA must be prepared to take reasonable and responsible steps so practitioners are not left picking up the cheque for the latest NHS IT failure.”
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