400,000 NHS Dentist Patients Fined for "Form Filling Errors"

MAnnually, more than 400,000 NHS dental patients are fined £ 100 for formatting errors, a survey found.

The investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) follows the badertion of a deliberately "aggressive" official policy aimed at dissuading patients from claiming their right to an exemption from payment.

According to the British Dental Association, BDA, patients are systematically fined simply for filling in the wrong box in a complicated form when they claim their waiver.

Many of them are young or disadvantaged.

The number of fines imposed has increased tenfold in the last five years, from 33,887 in 2012/13 to 427,238 in 2017/18, according to statistics from NHS Dental Statistics.

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