Dentist accused of failing her patients (From Haringey Independent)

Dentist accused of failing her patients

11:25am Friday 26th October 2007

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A Haringey dentist is accused of a catalogue of failures including sedating patients without proper training. Emergency medical equipment was also missing or out of date, it is claimed.

Maryam Ashrafi treated people at the Park Road Dental Practice, in Park Road, Hornsey, for four years without adequate safeguards to avoid potential exposure to radiation from X-ray equipment, a hearing was told.

The General Dental Council (GDC) heard on Tuesday that not all Ashrafi's staff were trained to resuscitate patients if they fell ill during treatment.

An inspection of the surgery revealed missing equipment and out-of-date emergency drugs, with no system in place for checking or replacing them.

It is also claimed that Ashrafi had been treating patients under conscious sedation at the surgery despite being 'inadequately trained' and having inadequate provisions in place to deal with patients after sedation. The technique is used to relieve pain and anxiety during dental procedures but the patient remains awake.

In the surgery, officials allegedly found an oxygen cylinder that was not properly connected or located in case of emergency, and there were no drugs to reverse the effects of sedation.

The professional conduct committee also heard there were inadequate arrangements in place for radiation protection; no rules in place for using X-ray equipment or any records to show radiographic machines had been safety-tested.

The practice had also broken strict regulations by not appointing a radiation protection adviser to the surgery.

The string of alleged failures was revealed after an inspection of the practice by Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust in early January 2006.

Ashrafi was notified of the inspection findings at the end of that month but took more than two months to rectify the situation, the hearing was told.

Fenella Morris, from the GDC, said: "Despite the advice given, she did not act sufficiently quickly to address the deficiencies in her practice in relation to conscious sedation and continued to use it despite the advice having been given.

"The arrangements for dealing with medical emergencies were inadequate."

It is also claimed that in February 2005, Ashrafi failed to carry out an adequate assessment of a client by not taking X-rays of her teeth.

She is charged with failing to formulate an appro- priate treatment plan for the patient or advising on alternative treatments available.

Ashrafi denies her conduct was inappropriate, unprofessional and contrary to patients' best interests.

Speaking at the hearing today (Thursday) she blamed her colleagues and staff shortages for the deficiencies, claiming that the care of drugs had been delegated to a nurse. She said: "I had delegated a few jobs in the surgery to staff and one of the nurses was in charge of checking the emergency drugs. "She was in charge of all of that."

Ashrafi recognised that the cabinet was meant to be checked each month but said that process slipped when several staff left the practice. She added: "I had some difficulties in running the practice since two of my nurses finished at the same time. "It was very difficult to get another nurse to come and my receptionist left as well to go to China and my hygienist left as well. "I was trying to recruit people. I was just running between trying to do so many things. "Basically it was an oversight on my part, I didn't see to check the emergency drugs, I forgot."

But Ashrafi denied the drugs were several years old and instead told the GDC they were only two to three months past their expiry dates.

She then described the inspection in January 2006 by Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust as 'distressing' but claims her sedation practices were not criticised at the time. She also said that essential equipment - claimed to be missing - was kept in a storage area not seen by inspectors.

If found guilty she could be struck off or suspended from the dental register for serious professional misconduct.

The hearing continues.

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