[beep_boop_beep]

The thing that goes through my mind when I hear people talk about delegating more procedures to less qualified staff is... What happens when the dental nurse slips up and causes bleeding or hits a nerve and causes loss of feeling / facial paralysis. Does she run and grab a suitably qualified dentist and pull him away from the procedure they are currently performing?

People don't seem to realise that the reason we entrust certain people with certain jobs is not because that highly qualified person has done x procedure x numbers of times, it's because they have a very deep and thorough understanding of any complications and what to do when things go wrong. Not just in medicine but in engineering and many other critical professions where decisions cost lives. What you're talking about when you say deregulating is vastly increasing risk. There's a reason why current regulations exist and were created in the first place, because at one time they didn't exist and people died or became seriously ill.

I'd be genuinely interested to know what medical procedures people here would be happy to have a nurse perform rather than a doctor.