English general dental practitioners' views on the new contract: The problems of collecting information in a time of change

Abstract

Aim To record English general dental practitioners' views on the new contract. Sample One thousand and forty nine general dental practitioners working under the PDS or GDS contract. Locations Randomly selected general dental practitioners working within the NHS in England. Methods Postal questionnaire, made up of two components: closed questions and a free answer section. Three waves of mailings were undertaken. Results Poor response rate of 28.5 per cent. Dentists felt marginalized by the government and disillusioned with the new contract. The free answer section was characterized by angry responses and worry about the impact of the changes on patient care and income. Discussion The fact that the Dental Practice Board circulated the questionnaire made many of the respondents suspicious of the overall aim of the research. This factor may have contributed to the low response rate. Conclusion More care should have been taken when piloting the questionnaire as the researchers under estimated the difficulties of collecting information in a time of change.