The Care Quality Commission has today published 14 reports on the quality of care provided by nine dental practices in England.
The practices were inspected under CQC’s new approach to inspecting dental services which launched in April 2015.
The practices that we have reported on today are:
Practice name and Clinical Commissioning Group area
- Gravesend Dental Care, Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley
- Hetton Dental Practice, NHS Sunderland
- Lacey Dental Practice, Southwark
- Malherbedentalclinics Ltd, Swindon
- Mydentist - Reddish Road - Stockport, Stockport
- Olney Dental Centre, Milton Keynes
- Oswald House Dental Practice, South Derbyshire
- Queen Street Dental Practice, East Lancashire
- Riveredge Dentistry Limited - Sunderland, NHS Sunderland
- Streatham Common Dental Surgery, Lambeth
- Surrey Docks Dental Practice, Southwark
- The Whiter Smile Ltd, NHS Tower Hamlets
- Toothcare Limited, Castle Point and Rochford
- Tower Gardens Dental Practice, Lincolnshire East
CQC’s new approach to inspecting dental services:
CQC’s new approach to inspecting dental services uses specially trained dental inspectors, accompanied by specialist advisors who are usually qualified dentists or dental care professionals. Similarly to the other health and social care sectors inspected by CQC, dental reports describe whether services provided are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. Our inspections check that practices are meeting the fundamental standards regulations that came into force on 1 April 2015.
Over the next 12 months, CQC plans to inspect 10 per cent of England’s 10,000 dental practices. Unlike most other regulated sectors, primary care dental services will not be given a rating in 2015/16.
Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice (Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care Directorate), said: “We know that the quality of care provided by most dentists is of an acceptable standard, and that is reflected in the reports we have published so far under our new approach.
“If we find that a dental practice is failing to meet the required standard - we will expect them to provide us with a full plan setting out how they will address the issue, and we will return to check that they have made the required improvements.
“However good the general picture, we cannot be complacent. In the first years of inspection, CQC did identify some examples of unacceptable standards of care. Our main priority must be to ensure that we protect the public from unsafe care by continuing to inspect against the regulations and taking action if we identify any concerns.”
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