Patient Questionnaire on Dental Services in Northern Ireland

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Patient Questionnaire: measuring the impact of changing provider remuneration on the quality of care provided by health service dentists in Northern Ireland

• IRAS ID

  185127

• Contact name

  Paul Brocklehurst

• Contact email

  paul.brocklehurst@manchester.ac.uk

• Duration of Study in the UK

  3 years, months, days

• Research summary

  Provider remuneration in dentistry can utilise either a capitation or fee-for-service (FFS) model. In capitation models, dentists are paid a set amount by the NHS for each patient they see, whereas in FFS models, they are paid according to which procedures they use to treat a patient. In Northern Ireland, remuneration to dentists for health service treatment is currently based on a FFS model.

  Policy-makers in Northern Ireland, however, have decided to ‘pilot’ a new capitation-based dental contract in order to measure the impact of the proposed change in policy on the delivery of dental care. Their intention is to work closely with us here at the University of Manchester to carry out this work.

  The aim of the proposed research is to derive generalizable new knowledge about the impact of the capitation pilot on the following patient measures:

  • Quality of Care Provided
  • Oral health knowledge, attitude and behaviour
  • Oral health status

  In order to establish this aim, the intention is to send out the same questionnaire at three separate points over a three year period, namely, before, during and after the pilot has taken place. The same patients will not be surveyed at each phase. We will instead use a quota sampling approach and aim to obtain 2,000 responses in each phase; 1,000 in test and 1,000 in control practices.

• REC name

  HSC REC A

• REC reference

  15/NI/0167

• Date of REC Opinion

  5 Aug 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion