The Care Quality Commission published reports on the quality of care provided by 26 dental practices in England last week.
The practices that we have reported on are:
- 121 Dental Practice, Kingston: Meeting standards
- Broadway Dental Care - Cotswold Dental Limited, South Worcestershire: Meeting standards
- Crown Bank Family Dental Health Centre, South Cheshire: Meeting standards
- E2 Dental Practice, Tower Hamlets: Meeting standards
- Ecladent, Barnet: Meeting standards
- Family Dental Care, Kingston: Meeting standards
- Farm Street Dental Practice, Sandwell and West Birmingham: Meeting standards
- Fourways Dental Surgery, West Kent: Meeting standards
- Genix Healthcare Dental Clinic - Whitley Bay, North Tyneside: Meeting standards
- Hook Road Dental Practice, Kingston: Meeting standards
- Northgate Dental Practice, North Kirklees: Meeting standards
- Orchard Orthodontics, Croydon: Meeting standards
- Park Clinic, Nene: Meeting standards
- Peel Park Dental Practice, Bradford City: Meeting standards
- Regency House Dental Clinic, Herts Valleys: Meeting standards
- Stokesley Dental Practice, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby: Meeting standards
- Tan Dental Practice, Haringey: Meeting standards
- The Dental Surgery, High Weald Lewes Havens: Meeting standards
- The Dentist - Woodside Park (Dr David Sher), Barnet: Meeting standards
- The Dentist - Woodside Park (Dr Paul Kletz), Barnet: Meeting standards
- The Mapleleaf Practice, Harrogate and Rural District: Meeting standards
- The Orthodontic Centre, Doncaster: Meeting standards
- The Smile Centre Dental Practice, Nottingham City: Meeting standards
- Tolworth Rise Practice, Kingston: Meeting standards
- Tooth Booth Epping, West Essex: Meeting standards
- Kings Heath Dental, Birmingham South and Central: Not meeting all of the standards
CQC’s new approach to inspecting dental services:
CQC’s 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 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.
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 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
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