A dentist who sparked an NHS recall of 22,000 patients because of poor hygiene at his practice has told of his ‘total shock’ at allegations of malpractice and insisted he cared for many of his patients ‘as friends’.
Desmond D’Mello, who ran the Daybrook Dental Practice in Gedling, Nottinghamshire, described the investigation into the accusations as ‘callous and very humiliating’.
D’Mello, 62, faces more than 50 allegations of malpractice – a series of alleged hygiene failures, including not changing his gloves between appointments, and accusations that he irresponsibly prescribed drugs to a patient, the General Dental Council (GDC) in London has heard.
Desmond D’Mello described the investigation into the accusations of poor hygiene as ‘callous and very humiliating’
He was suspended on June 13, 2014 after a whistleblower secretly filmed him allegedly breaching clinical standards across three days.
D’Mello, who has been a dentist for nearly 38 years and began his own practice in 1980, has not attended the hearing but sent an email addressing the charges to the committee.
In the statement, read to court, he said: ‘As you can imagine, this was a total shock to me and I have to say that the way the three officers from NHS England handled the whole situation was callous and very humiliating.
‘I was so shocked to be accused of such serious failings in infection control, I offered them a chance to carry out an inspection immediately.’
He said that the results of the ‘mass blood screening’ of his patients for blood-borne viruses at the end of 2014 had produced positive results ‘far below’ the average for the population.
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‘I hope this very low positive result proves that the evidence caught on the illegal covert filming does not reflect the way I practised dentistry over the previous 38 years,’ D’Mello said in his statement.
The hearing has heard how 22,000 patients listed on the practice database were written to and offered blood testing following the allegations, with around 6,000 coming forward.
NHS England said that 4,526 patients of D’Mello were tested following the recall, with five of these found to have hepatitis C. None were diagnosed with hepatitis B or HIV.
The statement, parts of which were read in private due to confidentiality issues, concluded: ‘I loved my job and found it an honour and privilege to treat my 22,000 patients, many of whom I cared for as friends.
NHS England said that 4,526 patients of D’Mello at Daybrook Dental Practice were tested following the recall, with five of these found to have hepatitis C. None were diagnosed with hepatitis B or HIV
‘Several of my own family were my patients out of which half of them were general medical practitioners.’
He added that he was ‘no longer any risk to public health’ and had applied for ‘voluntary erasure’ from the GDC register on two occasions.
D’Mello, who qualified in 1977, had a contract with the NHS for the financial year 2014-15 worth nearly £675,000, the hearing heard.
Catriona Peterson, dental adviser for NHS England’s Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire team, which was involved in the investigation, said D’Mello’s practice was contracted for 29,000 units of dental activity, each worth £23.25.
D’Mello faces 56 allegations.
Dental nurse Caroline Surgey faces 20 allegations, including failing to inform the NHS of the ‘poor standard of infection control’ at the surgery.
Yesterday at the General Dental Council a professional practice committee decided the millionaire’s misconduct hearing should be heard in his absence after he failed to attend and did not send any legal representation.
David Bradly, representing the GDC, said: ‘The council’s submission is that he has chosen not to attend the proceedings at all.
‘While of course he may be disadvantaged by not being present, the difficulty for him is to be balanced against the the public interest in proceeding.’
He pointed out there would be not appropriate for the committee to adjourn the proceedings as it is unlikely D’Mello would attended a re-listed hearing.
The dentist’s 56 charges include failure to change surgical gloves and failure to wear a surgical mask (file image)
Bradly said: ‘In the public interest the council applies to your committee to proceed with this hearing in Mr D’Mello’s absence.’
He showed the committee a letter from the solicitors Branbers, which had previously represented D’Mello from November 10, 2015.
In it they said: ‘For the reasons set out, we confirm our client does not intend to participate in the ongoing fitness to practice proceedings.’
The dentist’s 56 charges include failure to change surgical gloves and failure to wear a surgical mask.
He is also accused of failing to maintain adequate infection control by using instruments which had not been decontaminated before use.
D’Mello also faces allegations of managing patients in an inadequate manner including in the way he issued prescriptions.
The hearing will resume on Wednesday at 9.30am and is expected to last three weeks.