Apology for incorrect dental income figures

The Business Services Organisation (BSO) has apologised following the release of inaccurate financial information relating to the income of dentists in Northern Ireland.

The figures, as reported by the Belfast Telegraph on 11 December 2009, were wrong in six out of 20 cases, and overstated dental practice turnovers on the health service by up to 73%.

At that time, the Dental Association (BDA) in Northern Ireland called for a full public apology after it emerged that dentists health service incomes were vastly exaggerated in figures released following a freedom of information request.

The BDA wrote to the Business Services Organisation (BSO), the body responsible for the release of the incorrect figures, demanding that an apology be made to all the dental practices involved.

Claudette Christie, BDA Director for Northern Ireland, said: ‘This has caused personal distress directly to a number of hardworking dentists and to the wider profession. Dentists across Northern Ireland are at the heart of their communities, working hard to care for their patients. They devote their professional lives to building relationships with their patients that enable them to provide the best possible standards of care for each individual. To have those relationships swept away by the failure of a government agency to quality assure its figures is devastating.’