Dentists (Indemnity Arrangements)

I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Dentists Act 1984 in respect of indemnity arrangements.

Like many MPs new to this place, I find that the first Bill I am presenting is not on something I have experience of, but on an issue brought to me by constituents. Clive Worthington was a much-loved resident of Harlow. He worked as a wood machinist and had three children and five grandchildren. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) for introducing me to Clive’s daughter, Gina, who is her constituent. When I met Gina, she described her father as fun-loving and full of life—someone who had enjoyed sport and playing with his grandchildren.

In 2008, Mr Worthington had dental implants. Despite several follow-up operations in the years that followed, the procedure was unsuccessful, and he was left in agony. He was awarded £117,378 in damages and legal costs at Chelmsford county court in November 2019—one of the highest payouts for dental negligence in the UK. However, the dentist who carried out the work was only covered via her membership of the Dental Defence Union. Organisations such as the DDU are not insurance companies, but offer professional indemnity on a discretionary basis for members against the risk of dental negligence claims and professional conduct proceedings. The British Medical Association describes discretionary indemnity as

“where legal and financial assistance is provided at the discretion of the provider, for example, not backed by an insurance contract between the healthcare professional and the provider”.

Due to this loophole, Mr Worthington did not receive compensation and, in 2022, unable to stand the agony and feeling as though he had

“lost faith in the system”,

he took his own life. The senior Essex coroner said that the long-term consequences of his unsuccessful dental surgery impacted significantly on his mental health and ability to cope with daily life. As his daughter Gina said:

“It’s such a tragic end to a life. It just makes me so mad—that it didn’t have to end this way.”

Indemnity cover for healthcare professionals, including dentists, was the subject of a consultation launched by the Department of Health and Social Care in December 2018. To move forward and build on both the recommendations from the Paterson inquiry and the Gina’s wishes, this Bill would, via secondary legislation, amend the Dentists Act 1984—as amended in the Health Care and Associated Professions (Indemnity Arrangements) Order 2014—and therefore does not require lengthy primary legislation.

My proposal is an amendment to section 26A(2) of the 1984 Act, as amended in the 2014 order, which currently reads:

“For the purposes of this section, an ‘indemnity arrangement’ may comprise…a policy of insurance…an arrangement made for the purposes of indemnifying a person”

or

“a combination of the two.”

My Bill proposes changing that subsection to:

“For the purposes of this section, an ‘indemnity arrangement’ should comprise of a policy of insurance.”

Ordered, That Chris Vince, Josh Dean, Jen Craft, Will Stone and Charlotte Nichols present the Bill.

Chris Vince accordingly presented the Bill.