If you are leaving your current practice, withdrawing from the dental list or adding/changing a partnership number of a suffix to your contract number following a change of address or vocational trainee arrangements, the DPB has specialist Dental Practice Changes (DPC) sections and procedures to help you with transfers of patients and outstanding courses of treatment.

In order to transfer patients within the practice, for example when an assistant becomes an associate, Form DTR7, obtainable from your HA, should be used.

Arrangements may be agreed whereby the original FP17A and FP17C claims are closed to claim fees for the treatment provided to the date of transfer of the patients to another dentist who is to complete the treatment and a further claim raised for each patient to cover the balance of the treatment.

Where necessary fees can be apportioned between the two claims. The patients charge to be shown on the first claim should be at least equal to the charge for the treatment provided up to that date.

Wherever possible the two claims should be forwarded (or transmitted) to the DPB together and endorsed "For the attention of the DPC Section". Orthodontic claims should be forwarded "for the attention of the Orthodontic DPC Section".

Holding Contracts

Where a short-term transfer of capitation and continuing care patients is necessary, for example when a dentist takes maternity leave or where there is a delay in finding a replacement associate, a "holding contract" may be set up.

One or more practitioners can be given a separate suffix to which the outgoing dentist’s patients are transferred. This enables the ease of transfer when a new dentist is taken on/or the original dentist returns to work.

The alternative to the above is to transfer to an existing contract number, ensuring that when the DTR 6/7 is received to transfer back to the original contract number, or to a new associate, it is clearly marked "Please transfer only those patients previously registered to contract number . . ."

If any other patients are to transferred to the new list these patients should also be identified on the DTR 6/7.

Detailed information on these procedures may be obtained by contacting:

Dentanet www.dentanet.org.ukORCarole Doble Tel:01323 433207

Orthodontic Section 01323 433571