Questions & Answers

Patients should receive the latest version of your plan brochure which makes reference to the Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme. When a patient wants to join your plan, you must use the Patient Agreement that has been provided in your welcome box. To make your life that little bit easier, we’ve amalgamated our Patient Agreement. So regardless of whether you offer adult maintenance, capitation or children’s plans, you can now use the same Patient Agreement. Please also remember to give the patient a copy of: The Privacy Policy, as this explains how Practice Plan uses a patient’s data and the patient's rights under the new data protection laws which came into force on 25th May 2018. The Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme Handbook is available to download from https://scheme.wdeas.co.uk/patients and provides information about how the Scheme works.

Ask them to call to request pre-authorisation if at all possible before they go ahead with treatment (full contact details can be found in the Scheme Handbook available to download from https://scheme.wdeas.co.uk/patients). Once their request is authorised then you can fill in a Request for Assistance Form and submit this as instructed on the form.

If you run low on stocks of your Patient Plan Agreements, Privacy Policies, or Request for Assistance Forms, please contact our Customer Services team who will be happy to place an order for you. Alternatively send in a stationery order form to request new supplies. Scheme Handbooks are available to download at https://scheme.wdeas.co.uk/patients for your patients.

We have a dedicated team designed to handle any queries you or your patients might have regarding the Scheme. The team can be reached on: Assistance Team Telephone: 03300 532 061 Or email the Assistance Team at assistance@wdeas.co.uk

It is important to stress that the Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme (the Scheme) is not the same as a contract of insurance, although there are similarities in how the two are intended to operate. Under the Scheme, the Scheme Manager has the sole and absolute discretion as to whether a benefit is paid out in response to any Request for Assistance and this differs from an insurance policy under which there is an entitlement to benefits. Whilst the Scheme aims to provide benefits in most cases, it is possible that the Scheme Manager will use its discretion to provide no benefits in any given case – see the Scheme Handbook for details.

Treating customers fairly is, and always has been, one of our key values and is at the heart of everything we do. You will have witnessed this in our past dealings with you and your patients in all matters including the handling of insurance claims. That same approach will be adopted when we are asked to consider a Request for Assistance under the Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme and with many years’ experience in dealing with patients who have suffered a dental trauma or emergency, we fully expect patients to be satisfied with the manner in which their Request for Assistance is handled. We pride ourselves on the fact that across the many thousands of insurance claims that we have handled per year, we have had very few complaints, but should a patient not be happy with the outcome under the new Scheme, they will have access to an Appeals Panel which will review their Request for Assistance and have the authority (at its sole and absolute discretion) to overturn the initial decision on grounds of patient fairness.

Under the Scheme, patients will be automatically eligible to request assistance from the Scheme upon becoming dental plan holders.

Whilst on the face of it that seems a simple solution, we question whether it would work at a practical level. Firstly, if plans were offered to patients with and without integrated insurance, there is a strong possibility that the patient would seek guidance from their dentist in deciding which plan to choose. Any assistance provided by the dentist would be at risk of constituting financial advice, which in turn would mean that the dentist would be subject to the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulations. Secondly, if some patients take advantage of the offer of insurance and others do not, this could lead to complaints from patients suffering a dental trauma or emergency that the benefits of the insurance were not properly explained at the time they enrolled onto a plan with no insurance cover. Thirdly, to have a mixture of patients attending the practice both with and without insurance could lead to confusion on the part of the practice team, potentially resulting in a poor patient experience and an unnecessary administrative burden.

The dental plan administrator will be responsible for funding the Scheme in accordance with the Scheme rules. The Scheme fund will be reviewed by an actuary at regular intervals to make sure that the fund is appropriately resourced in view of its aims and objectives and additional sums will be contributed by the dental plan administrator as considered appropriate. Having had many years’ experience in managing claims under the insurance, we are well placed to calculate very accurately the total volume and value of Requests for Assistance likely to be made against the Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme.

The benefits available under the Worldwide Dental Emergency Assistance Scheme will be reviewed from time to time to make sure they keep pace with dental inflation.

It is expected that the Scheme will pay out similar sums to that paid out under the insurance in any one year. So, although there is no longer an insurance premium payable by the patient, the amount previously charged as an insurance premium will now form part of the overall administration fee. A proportion of this administration fee will be allocated to the Scheme, out of which patients will be able to request assistance.