The Care Quality Commission has today published reports on the quality of care provided by 18 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
- West End Apex (now My Dentist Little Horton Lane), Bradford
- Clayton Brook Dental, Chorley and South Ribble
- Selhurst Dental, Croydon
- Care Dental Smile Studio, Hounslow
- Tooth Dental Care, Lambeth
- Thurnscoe Dental Care, NHS Barnsley CCG
- Calder dental practice, NHS East Lancashire
- Tan Dental Practice, NHS Haringey
- Bamford Dental Practice, NHS Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale
- PSB dental, NHS Sheffield
- Walton Road Dental Practice, NHS Warrington CCG
- Springfield Dental Practice, NHS Wirral CCG
- Kew Road Dental, Richmond upon Thames
- Dearne Valley Dental Practice, Rotherham
- Ivy Cottage Dental Care, Rotherham
- C R Dental Practice, Sheffield
- Primecare Oral Health Services - Worcester St. John's, South Worcestershire
- PH Dental, Southwark
You can find CQC’s latest inspection reports of dental services on this website.
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."
Ends
For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team (please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters). For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.