Yes. Guidance issued by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in November 2011 confirmed the replacement of the post-payment claim to record checks with probity outlier assessment checks. This will be based on quarterly reports from BSO probity which are then acted upon by HSCB dental advisers. Each quarter, 40 contractors will be either selected at random or targeted for a record card review. An initial sample of 10 record cards will then be requested for compliance with agreed standards. Full details of the process for targeted and random probity assurance can be found here

Normally complaints would be made through the in-house practice complaints procedure. It is important therefore that your patients know how to use the procedure. Private complaints may also be made to the Dental Complaints Service, an independent complaints service funded by the General Dental Council.

Failure to co-operate with the DCS in the investigation of a complaint may be brought to the attention of the GDC. Complaints may also be made to the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) for registered practices, the nature of which may lead to an investigation of your compliance with the regulations and minimum standards.

Yes, following an amendment to the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (NI) 2009, all providers of NHS services are required to provide the HSC Board with anonymised copies of each NHS complaint, and the practice response, within three days of the response being sent. This is for monitoring purposes. The Board should also be given quarterly reports containing details of the number of complaints received in that quarter.