The Dentists Act 1984 (Amendment) Order 2005

The National Health Service (General Dental Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1996

12.—(1) The National Health Service (General Dental Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1996(1) are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation), after the definition of “continuing care arrangement” insert—

““dental care professional” means a person who is registered in the dental care professionals register established under section 36B of the Dentists Act 1984 (c. 24);”.

(3) In regulation 4 (dental list), in paragraph (2)(b)(iii), for “dental auxiliary whose work he directs.” substitute “dental care professional who assists him in providing general dental services.”.

(4) In Part V (payment in consequence of suspension)—

(a) in regulation 26(a) (interpretation)—

(i) omit the definition of “Health Committee”,

(ii) for the definition of “immediate suspension” substitute—

““immediate suspension” means suspension by virtue of an order under section 30(1) of the Dentists Act 1984 except such a suspension which is terminated by the court under section 30(7) of that Act;”, and

(iii) in the definition of “interim suspension order”, for “section 32” substitute “section 32(4)(a)”;

(b) for regulation 26(b) substitute—

“(b) a reference to a direction or order for health or performance related suspension means a direction or order of the Health Committee, the Professional Performance Committee or the Professional Conduct Committee of the General Dental Council for the suspension of a person’s registration under any of sections 27B, 27C or 30 of the Dentists Act 1984 following a relevant determination that that person’s fitness to practise is impaired; and for the purposes of this paragraph, a “relevant determination” that a person’s fitness to practise is impaired is a determination which is based solely on—

(i) the ground mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 27 of the Dentists Act 1984 (deficient professional performance),

(ii) the ground mentioned in paragraph (c) of that subsection (adverse physical or mental health), or

(iii) both those grounds.”;

(c) in regulation 27 (entitlement to payment), in paragraphs (1), (2)(a) and (3), for “of the Health Committee” substitute “for health or performance related suspension”; and

(d) in regulation 29 (amounts and times of payment), in paragraphs (1)(a) and (4), for “of the Health Committee” substitute “for health or performance related suspension”.

(5) In Part IV of Schedule 1 (additional terms of service for all dentists)—

(a) for paragraph 29 substitute—

“Dental care professionals

29.   A dentist may in the provision of general dental services arrange for care and treatment to be given by dental care professionals, and shall ensure that such care and treatment is properly completed.”; and

(b) in paragraph 31D (professional indemnity), in sub-paragraph (a), for “dental auxiliary whose work he directs” substitute “dental care professional who assists him in providing general dental services”.

(6) In Part V of Schedule 1 (additional terms of service for dentists other than salaried dentists), for paragraph 38 substitute—

“Dentists suspended under section 27B, 27C, 30 or 32 of the Dentists Act 1984

38.— (1) Sub-paragraph (3) applies to a dentist whose registration in the register kept under section 14 of the Dentists Act 1984 is suspended—

(a) by an interim suspension order under section 32 of that Act; or

(b) by a direction or order of the Health Committee, the Professional Performance Committee or the Professional Conduct Committee of the General Dental Council under any of sections 27B, 27C or 30 of that Act following a relevant determination that that dentist’s fitness to practise is impaired.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), a “relevant determination” that a dentist’s fitness to practise is impaired is a determination which is based solely on—

(a) the ground mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 27 of the Dentists Act 1984 (deficient professional performance);

(b) the ground mentioned in paragraph (c) of that subsection (adverse physical or mental health); or

(c) both those grounds.

(3) A dentist to whom this sub-paragraph applies shall secure that any dentist appointed by him to provide general dental services on his behalf during the period of the suspension of his registration shall be a dentist whose name is included in Part A of the dental list.”.

(7) In Part I of Schedule 2 (information and undertaking to be included in an application for inclusion in Part A of the dental list), in paragraph 16, for “dental auxiliary whose work the dentist intends to direct” substitute “dental care professional who the dentist intends will assist him in providing general dental services”.

(1)

S.I. 1996/177; the relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1998/1663, S.S.I. 1999/51, S.I. 1999/724, S.S.I. 2000/188 and S.S.I. 2004/37.