January-21-2013 in Healthcare Law
Recent statistics show that the Dental Complaints Resolution Service (DCRS) has had a busy first six months in operation.
The DCRS is an independent service which was launched in May 2012 with the purpose of offering patients and dentists an opportunity to resolve their differences about dental treatment assisted by a mediator. The service is free of charge to patients and is also free to dentists who are members of the Irish Dental Association. The DCRS is a voluntary scheme and both dentists and patients can opt out at any time.
When it was first established, the DCRS expected to receive about 100 complaints in the first year however statistics show that the amount of complaints and queries handled by the service had already surpassed that figure by December 2012. The main complaints raised by patients to date relate to clinical treatment, poor communication, price, delays in treatment and access to records. The appointed Mediator for the Service, Michael Kilcoyne, has said that the key issue which emerges from the first six months of operation is the need for the highest standards of communication between dentist and patient. He believes that if there was better communication between patients and dentists, it would dramatically reduce the number of complaints he deals with.
Similar services have been successful in New Zealand, Hong Kong and the UK. In Ireland, the introduction of the service comes at an opportune time given that the level of litigation against dentists has increased dramatically in the past two years. While the DCRS is still in its infancy, the positive response to the new service evidenced over the first six months of its operation is very welcome.
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