The Care Quality Commission published reports on the quality of care provided by 26 dental practices in England in the past week.
The practices that we have reported on are:
- A Smile For Life - Bradford Road, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven: Meeting standards
- Adentist4Life Dental Practice, Redbridge: Meeting standards
- Arundel Lodge Dental Surgery Ltd, Surrey Downs: Meeting standards
- Berkeley House Dental Practice, Herefordshire: Meeting standards
- Cadis Practice Limited, Blackpool: Meeting standards
- Cambridge Street Dental Practice, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough: Meeting standards
- Cheltenham House, Gloucestershire: Meeting standards
- Chingford Dental Surgery, Waltham Forest: Meeting standards
- Chu & Tsao Dental Group - Church Road, South Sefton: Meeting standards
- Cotswold Orthodontics, Gloucestershire: Meeting standards
- Dental Surgery, Redbridge: Meeting standards
- Ferndale House Dental Practice, North Derbyshire: Meeting standards
- Grange Dene, Calderdale: Meeting standards
- J M Worsley Dental Practice, Cumbria: Meeting standards
- Kenneth Ng Surgery Limited, Ipswich and East Suffolk: Meeting standards
- Laburnum NW Limited, Eastern Cheshire: Meeting standards
- Otley Road Dental Practice, Harrogate and Rural District: Meeting standards
- Peartree Dental Practice, East and North Hertfordshire: Meeting standards
- Reepham Road Dental Practice (Clacton Dental Care Ltd), Norwich: Meeting standards
- Reepham Road Dental Practice (The Dental Care Group Partnership ), Norwich: Meeting standards
- Station Plaza Dental Practice, Hastings and Rother: Meeting standards
- The Behrens Dental Practice, West London: Meeting standards
- The Edge Dental Practice, Eastern Cheshire: Meeting standards
- The Oaks Dental Practice, Bradford Districts: Meeting standards
- Dentcross Kidbrooke Village Dental Surgery, Greenwich: Not meeting standards
- Villa Dental Suite Ltd, Bradford Districts: Not meeting standards
CQC’s new approach to inspecting dental services:
CQC’s approach to inspecting dental services uses specially trained dental inspectors, usually accompanied by specialist advisors who are 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 and regulations that came into force on 1 April 2015.
CQC plans to inspect 10 per cent of England’s 10,000 dental practices. Unlike most sectors regulated by CQC, primary care dental services will not be given a rating.
Dr Janet Williamson, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice & Dentistry, said:
"We know that the quality of care provided by most dentists meets the fundamental standards required by law and, and that is reflected in the reports we have published so far.
"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 are not 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 that encourages improvement.”
Ends
For further information, please contact Helen Gildersleeve, Regional Engagement Officer on 0191 2333379. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. Please note: the press office is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters. For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.