Suspended: Dentist Who Breached COVID Rules
- Details
- Published: Monday, 24 May 2021 08:18
- Written by Chris Tapper
- Hits: 4730
A dentist who treated patients immediately after his return from Greece without self-isolating, has had an 18-month Interim Suspension imposed on him by the General Dental Council.
An initial Interim Orders Committee (IOC) heard that Dr Vasillis Kontogiannis has been left with only eight private patients after NHS England had previously suspended him from the NHS dental performers’ list for six months.
The IOC heard that NHS England raised concerns about the movements and conduct of Dr Kontogiannis since July 2020.
On his return from Greece in July, he failed to self-isolate and treated patients immediately on his return to the UK, but NHS England discovered he intended repeating his omission in January 2021.
The dentist worked at Dolphin Orthodontics in Cosham, Portsmouth.
The IOC was told that NHS England staff who contacted his dental practice in January were informed by a member of practice staff that he was out of the country and would be returning on Sunday 17 January 2021. They informed NHS England that the dentist had 42 patients scheduled for appointments on Monday 18 January 2021.
“As you were travelling from Greece, this raised concerns that you were not planning to self-isolate, as was legally required” the GDC hearing document said.
The IOC also heard that since July 2020, patients had been booked at ten-minute intervals, therefore not allowing adequate time to decontaminate the room after each patient.
The hearing was also told that Dr Kontogiannis had been treating patients without ‘adequate chairside support.’
There were also cross-infection control concerns raised when it was found that when he worked without chairside support, the autoclave had only been used twice.
The Committee heard that the dentist was issued with a Breach Notice after he failed to attend a practice visit, arranged due to concerns about his practise, saying that he had a migraine.
When the visit was rescheduled, concerns were raised about Dr Kontogiannis’s record-keeping, lack of radiographic equipment and decontamination and cross-infection control arrangements.
The Committee heard that the Senior Dental Adviser who attended on that occasion felt that the appointment schedule operated by the dentist was not safe to allow for a protocol to operate which would ensure patient safety when arriving, waiting, in the surgery, appointment making and departing.
The dental adviser said “This number of patients will make it very difficult for the receptionist to ensure that social distancing can reliably take place in the waiting room.”
Dr Kontogiannis did not participate in the remote hearing, but was represented by Mr Lee Gledhill, who submitted that the dentist “does accept sub-optimal practice and is taking steps to address this.”
Mr Gledhill “Referred to the fact that Mr Kontogiannis had brought in another dentist to assist with certain types of work. Whilst not working as an NHS dentist, Mr Kontogiannis is seeking to update practice protocols and gather evidence to demonstrate compliance.
“Mr Gledhill submitted that an order of suspension would be disproportionate in light of (the) fact that Mr Kontogiannis is not undertaking work on NHS patients, and that interims conditions would be adequate to protect the public for a short period of time.”
The Committee turned down a request from Mr Gledhill to postpone the hearing. The IOC heard that the dentist was ‘unaware’ of the IOC hearing. He was said to have not seen emails from the GDC and didn’t retrieve a document from the regulator held at a postal office because it was closed.
Mr Gledhill said that he contacted the dentist to inform him of the hearing, but Dr Kontogiannis hadn’t been able to provide him with full instructions in the ‘limited time period.’
Mr Daniel, Case Presenter for the GDC opposed the application to postpone, citing the efforts to inform the dentist about the hearing by post, email and telephone.
The hearing report said “Mr Daniel submitted that it would be unacceptable in relation to the high, serious and widespread risk to patients and the risk to public confidence if this matter was not considered today.”
“Further, the Committee noted that this lack of engagement with the GDC is consistent with Mr Kontogiannis’ lack of engagement and non-compliance with his NHS England investigation as set out in the report of that investigation.”
The IOC heard there were “35 prior historical complaints and performance concerns” on the NHS England database system. They were said to relate to “the registrant’s behaviour and attitude towards the patients and their parents.”
“Mr Gledhill submitted that Mr Kontogiannis is concerned about the authenticity of a number of concerns that have been raised against him. He submitted that there have been significant difficulties between Mr Kontogiannis and his dental nurse, in that she refused to undertake certain tasks and that the situation is not as bleak as she has portrayed,” hearing papers said.
NHS England reported that conditions imposed on the dentist in May 2020 should have been complied with by the end of September 2020. He was said to have been unable to provide evidence to support full compliance.
“The Committee acknowledged that Mr Kontogiannis has offered an undertaking not to see private patients in order to allay concerns but, due to his history of non-compliance as reported by NHS England, it could not be assured that his undertaking would be sufficient to safeguard the public or satisfy the public interest,” the hearing papers said.
The IOC also heard that the dentist was regularly late for work, resulting in patients queuing outside the practice onto the High Street due to the need for social distancing, as well as not adequately arranging for orthodontic emergencies during his absences.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report