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hhttp://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2422646.ece


'Collapse of NHS system pushed dentist to take her own life'
By Ian Herbert
Published: 05 April 2007

Ingrid Gill's resignation from a dental practice in North Yorkshire
two years ago seemed to be yet one more illustration of a collapsing
NHS dental system. "Outdated and failing patients" read the Yorkshire
Post headline over a story detailing her departure and that of a
neighbouring Lithuanian dentist who said the system resembled
something from the Soviet era.

But the dental practice's public assertion that Mrs Gill was simply
suffering "ill health" belied the psychological toll which her immense
workload - dealing single-handedly with 1,500 NHS patients - had taken
on her. An inquest has heard that Mrs Gill never recovered from it.
Her husband, Ian, believes the anxiety she developed at the Birdgate
dental practice, near Pickering, led her to commit suicide by taking
an overdose of anti-depressants and whisky in January this year. She
was 46.

North Yorkshire's NHS dentistry problems had been well chronicled when
Mrs Gill, also a talented artist and ceramicist, took her job at the
practice in November 2005. With dentists deserting the NHS in droves
(largely because of the failure of salaries to keep pace with
workload), more than 300 people queued to register when a Dutch
dentist arrived to take NHS work in Scarborough in February 2004 -
only to resign weeks later when it became clear that she had a
previous criminal conviction.

But the job opportunity at one of Pickering's two dental practices
still seemed perfect for Swiss-born Mrs Gill. She and her husband Ian,
a dental technician, liked the area and the couple had ambitions to
open an art gallery there. Mrs Gill had worked in NHS dentistry for 20
years but within weeks the new workload began to take its toll. The
former cancer sufferer felt she lacked support from the practice's
other dentists, who had private clients.

Eventually, Mrs Gill was taken to hospital with colitis, an
inflammatory disease of the lower intestine, and one of the owners of
the practice, Sarah Glover, asked her to resign from the NHS list, the
inquest heard. Mrs Gill was told that the practice was considering
converting the NHS patients into private patients and that she could
possibly pick them up again when she recovered. The North Yorkshire
Family Health Service wrote to Mrs Gill's patients, explaining the
situation.

"In my opinion it was a very nice way of getting rid of the NHS list,"
Mr Gill told the inquest. "They said they would consider converting
the NHS list into private so she could return once she recovered, but
that put her in an impossible situation because she was too ill to
make that decision. She was too ill to deal with such a tough call, so
was forced to resign. She felt guilty and let down.

"Her name was even printed on Teletext. People were furious at losing
the only NHS dentist. But Ingrid was ill. She didn't deserve that. We
actually celebrated when she developed colitis, because we were so
scared it was secondary cancer."

Though the couple opened their own dental practice after her departure
from Birdgate, she continued to need treatment for anxiety and often
complained of tiredness. On 2 January this year, she left her husband
a letter indicating that she had gone for a drive, in search of some
peace and quiet. But a short time later her body was found in her
Peugeot 206 car by a park ranger near Crosscliff Brow in Dalby Forest,
near Pickering. A bottle of whisky was found on the floor next to her
and a post-mortem examination revealed she had taken an overdose of
the antidepressant Dothiepin with the alcohol. The coroner, Michael
Oakley, sitting at Pickering magistrates' court, said: "There is no
other conclusion to be drawn than that Mrs Gill intended to take her
own life."

Mr Gill said: "I'm not at all surprised that so many NHS dentists
leave the profession, retire early or go private, because it is such a
stressful job. Ingrid never fully recovered from the stress of being
at that practice. Her downfall was that she was too clever. She looked
so deeply into things."

The switch to private practice

A small number of dentists has been left to deal with huge patient
demand in Britain because many in the profession have abandoned a lot
of their NHS work - in which they are paid a fee for each treatment in
a "piece-work" system, rather than for the number of patients on their
book. Private work is simply more profitable. Most dentists now carry
out both NHS and private consultations.

There is also a shortage of dentists in the UK: around 30,000, but
nearly 2,000 less than is needed, according to the British Dental
Association. According to the BDA, the number of dentists earning most
of their salary from the NHS dropped from 75 per cent in 1993 to 60
per cent in 2003. In the 1980s private dentistry accounted for less
than 10 per cent of dentists' income.

"PJ O'Donovan" <graufox@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1175805679.335652.6990@e65g2000hsc.googlegrou ps.com...
Why should there be any NHS dental service? There is nothing like it in New
Zealand or Australia.

R

PJ O'Donovan wrote:

Life expectancy in the US is only 76 years.


<snip subjective propaganda>

<<Collapse of NHS system pushed dentist to take her own life'

PJ>>

<Life expectancy in the UK is over 80 years
Life expectancy in the US is only 76 years.

BJ Foster>

What should we conclude from your figures and what is the source of
your figures?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medi...p?newsid=20557

"Life expectancy for U.S. residents increased to a record 77.6 years
and mortality rates for most leading causes of death declined in 2003,
according to the preliminary annual mortality report released Monday
by... CDC's National Center for Health Statistics,..."

Besides the life expectancy gap within individual groups in the US
exceeds your broad bush overall UK/US life expectancy gap which leads
to bigger questions like relative differences in comparative life
styles including bad habits like. illegal drug activities,
overeating, obesity etc. etc etc.

Why is the largest gap between men and women everywhere? Perhaps that
is innate? Yea, sure. l

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medi...p?newsid=20557

Race, Sex Results

"However, the gap between male and female life expectancies decreased
from 2002, when females lived an average of 5.4 years longer than men.
The Washington Times reports that 2003 was the first time the average
life expectancy of all U.S. women, regardless of race, exceeded 80
years (Washington Times, 3/1). In addition, the report found that
death rates per 100,000 white men declined by 2.1% in 2003 and by 1.2%
for white women, compared with a 2.5% decrease for African-American
men and a 2.4% decrease among African-American women. Among Latinos,
mortality rates for men decreased by 4.2% and by 1.8% for women (AP/
Las Vegas Sun, 2/28). Overall, the report found that average life
expectancy for white residents was 78 years in 2003 and about 73 years
for African-American residents. African-American males continue to
have the shortest life expectancy at less than 70 years in 2003,
according to the report..."

"Roger Dewhurst" <dewhurst@wave.co.nz> wrote in message
news:ev3p9q$n2o$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
We used to have a great one in Aus till Howard stopped the funding now
dental health in Australia has decreased

On Apr 5, 2:23 pm, "Roger Dewhurst" <dewhu...@wave.co.nz> wrote:

<<Collapse of NHS system pushed dentist to take her own life...

PJ>>

<Why should there be any NHS dental service? There is nothing like it
in New
Zealand or Australia.

Roger Dewhurst>

There shouldn't be and don't push for it.

One sees many more mouths with ugly, rotten teeth in the UK than
NZ or AU by a long shot thanx to that NHS "free" dental care in the
UK.

dechucka wrote:
treatment, which involved, amongst other thing, a wisdom tooth
extraction. Cost him (or his insurance policy), around £1000.

B J Foster wrote:
Except in Scotland. (All those deep-fried Mars Bars!)

Make credence recognised that on Fri, 6 Apr 2007 09:23:03 +1200,
"Roger Dewhurst" <dewhurst@wave.co.nz> has scripted:

NZ and Oz are currently running headlong towards the US system,
despite it being quite clear it's a lousy direction to go.

Britain would do well not to go down the same path, and the
antipodeans would do well to wake up to what's going on.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:49:13 +0200, Deeply Filled Mortician
<deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:

We're not, actually. At least, not in Oz. I agree about the
US system, but we're not heading towards it at all, not even
slowly.

Ours will continue to go through changes as governments
change, but for all it's faults - I'm bloody glad I'm a
citizen here.

I have interesting blood; consequently I read and post on
several medical newsgroups and email lists. I can't fault
the wealth of the US research establishment and the
brilliance of the US technical and research expertise, but
if I do eventually need to travel there for treatment (to a
top Australian specialist - in Texas:-) I'll need to sell my
house and everything else I own first. For those who live
there who aren't wealthy the health insurance system appears
to be a nightmare and the cost of medications is horrendous.
Especially if they are unemployed.

If the NICE guidelines on self-management of diabetes within
the NHS system are anything to judge it by - I'm very
grateful I'm not under that system. Similar comments apply,
for slightly different reasons, to Canada and Germany.

Everything has a price; free health care isn't. When you
accept state subsidisation you accept State decisions on
what is good for your health; too often those decisions
become affected too much by cost-benefit rather than medical
benefit.

The blend of State and private in the Australian system,
with all it's faults (particularly in the country towns), is
still better than my international friends have described to
me in any other country. That doesn't mean it can't be
improved and that we don't need to fight locally to prevent
erosion of benefits - but I'm definitely happy to be here.

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Epidaurus
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

"PJ O'Donovan" <graufox@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1175810585.925371.143850@q75g2000hsh.googlegr oups.com...
snip

all very interesting but 2006 figures US 46th highest life expectancy,
Australia 9th, NZ 32nd, UK 37th

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications.../2102rank.html

Alan S wrote:
And when you have a private system based on employment you accept
Insurance company decisions concerning how little they can manage to
approve.

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:46:11 -0400, "Frank F. Matthews"
<frankfmatthews@houston.rr.com> wrote:

Agreed. I have both state and private.

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Epidaurus
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 10:49:29 +1000, "dechucka"
<dechucka@vomithotmail.com> wrote:

Rank Country Life expectancy at birth
(years)
1 Andorra 83.51
2 Macau 82.19
3 San Marino 81.71
4 Singapore 81.71
5 Hong Kong 81.59
6 Japan 81.25
7 Sweden 80.51
8 Switzerland 80.51
9 Australia 80.5
10 Guernsey 80.42
11 Iceland 80.31
12 Canada 80.22
13 Cayman Islands 80.07
14 Italy 79.81
15 Gibraltar 79.8
16 France 79.73
17 Monaco 79.69
18 Liechtenstein 79.68
19 Spain 79.65
20 Norway 79.54

Take out the tiny principalities, small islands and
city-states like Hong Kong and Macao and the top 25 becomes:

Rank Country Life expectancy at birth
(years)
1 Japan 81.25
2 Sweden 80.51
3 Switzerland 80.51
4 Australia 80.5
5 Iceland 80.31
6 Canada 80.22
7 Italy 79.81
8 France 79.73
9 Spain 79.65
10 Norway 79.54
11 Israel 79.46
12 Greece 79.24
13 Austria 79.07
14 Netherlands 78.96
15 New Zealand 78.81
16 Germany 78.8
17 Belgium 78.77
18 United Kingdom 78.54
19 Finland 78.5
20 Jordan 78.4
21 Bosnia and Herzegovina 78
22 United States 77.85
23 Cyprus 77.82
24 Denmark 77.79
25 Ireland 77.73

Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Epidaurus
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/

On Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:37:58 GMT, Alan S <nothere@there.com> wrote:


Yeah! Take THAT! In your FACE, Cyprus!

USA! USA! USA! USA!

- TR
- trying out to be a Republican.

"PJ O'Donovan" <graufox@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1175810585.925371.143850@q75g2000hsh.googlegr oups.com...
In reality the measure of the effectiveness of any health system is the
infant mortality rate

According to the CIA fact book the UK infant mortality rate is about 25%
lower then the rate in the USA...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

On 6/04/07 11:09, in article ev52ig$klc$1@news.freedom2surf.net, "William
Black" <william.black@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:

6.43 deaths/1,000 live births for the USA
5.08 deaths/1,000 live births for the UK

If you compute it in terms of the USA as the reference
the UK is 21% lower.

If you compute it with reference to the UK, the US
is 27% higher.

France does a bit better, 4.21 deaths/1,000 live births
and the US comes out 53% higher compared to France.

Sweden does even better with 2.76 deaths/1,000 live births

The problem in the US is the variation of infant mortality
rates with social class. On the Island of Manhattan
the rates are (2003)

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/pre...111-0827.shtml

Highest IMR Â* Fort Greene, Brooklyn had the highest IMR in the City (11.0).
Other neighborhoods with high IMRs include Jamaica East, Queens (10.3) and
Tremont, the Bronx (10.2).

Lowest IMR Â* Neighborhoods with the lowest IMRs were Flushing, Queens (2.0);
Kips Bay-Yorkville (2.3), Riverside (2.3), the Lower West Side (2.8) in
Manhattan; and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (2.8).

***
So between the best, around 2.0 and the worst, 11, there is a factor of
5.

The rate in Cuba, which is hypersocialized is 6.22 deaths/1,000 live births,
marginally lower than the USA.

"VainGlorious" <vaingloriousDUMP@THIScomcast.net> wrote in message
news:m0eb13h1d2c964mct5rsl50dapp2lid9t2@4ax.com...
LOL

Make credence recognised that on Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:37:58 GMT, Alan S
<nothere@there.com> has scripted:

Who woulda thunk that?
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

"Deeply Filled Mortician" <deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote
in message news:hv5c1394qe108ctloq29ao93tg9n65cfm5@4ax.com...
In the UK emergency dental treatment is available free from hospitals.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"Earl Evleth" <evleth@wanadoo.fr> wrote in message
news:C23BE198.D8CE8%evleth@wanadoo.fr...

That the US health care system kills the babies of poor people isn't news...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

<<<Collapse of NHS system pushed dentist to take her own life'

PJ>>>

<<Life expectancy in the UK is over 80 years
Life expectancy in the US is only 76 years.
< In reality the measure of the effectiveness of any health system is
the
infant mortality rate

According to the CIA fact book the UK infant mortality rate is about
25%
lower then the rate in the USA...

William Black>

Really?

The overall UK/ US infant mortality rate 25 % differential is
statistically insignificant when compared with race/ethnic/geographic
differentials within the US itself


www.cdc.com

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Infant Mortality Rates --- 60 Largest
U.S. Cities, 1995--1998

During the 20th century, U.S. infant mortality rates (IMRs) declined
by
90% (1); however, many of the largest U.S. cities continue to have
high
IMRs compared with national rates. Studies of U.S. infant mortality by
region document persisting geographic disparities (2,3) and
differences
across racial/ethnic groups. This report highlights the wide
disparities in the most recent overall race- and ethnicity-specific
IMRs for the largest U.S. cities and describes key differences among
those cities. The findings demonstrate the need to decrease infant
mortality among blacks in U.S. cities.

If "poor medical care" creates much higher infant mortality rates in
our cities why do poor US hispanics in the same communities for
instance consistently have infant mortality rates comparable in most
cases to whites and a fraction of the black infant mortality rates.

Here are a few examples for you to chew on from
www.cdc.gov

Infant Mortality Rates

White Black Hispanic

Atlanta 6.7 14.6 6.1

Denver 6.8 15.5 7.3

Chicago 7.0 17.6 7.1

"William Black" <william.black@hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ev54to$m4f$1@news.freedom2surf.net...
As it does in every country. However it was once was supposed that high
infant mortality rates often meant that those that survived were that much
fitter or healthier. I don't that rule applies today in the USA.

"PJ O'Donovan" <graufox@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1175853305.834892.137780@q75g2000hsh.googlegr oups.com...

That the US healthcare system kills the babies of certain groups within the
USA isn't news...


Because the US system kills the babies of the poor and the US economic
system seems, to an external viewer, to be racist.

Your health system doesn't work, costs you a fortune, and the babies of the
poor die because of this.

In the UK very few babies die because of their parents poverty and care is
very good, to the extent that the number of private maternity units in the
UK is infinitesimally small.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.