The Care Quality Commission published reports on the quality of care provided by 31 dental practices in England last week.
The practices that we have reported on are:
- 80 Kensington Dental Clinic, West London
- Addiscombe Dental Surgery, Croydon
- Ballard and Tucker Limited, Bedfordshire
- Belmont Lodge Dental Health Centre, Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead
- Brandhall Dental Care, Sandwell and West Birmingham
- Cedars Endo, Surrey Heath
- Cricklewood Dental Practice, Brent
- Cromwell Place Dental Practice, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
- Devonshire Dental Clinic, Central London (Westminster)
- Eden Villas Dental Practice, Sunderland
- Family Dental Practice, South Warwickshire
- Fulham Dental Centre, Hammersmith and Fulham
- Haverhill Dental Centre, West Suffolk
- Horn Hill Dental Surgery, Cumbria
- Lichfield Family Dental Surgery, South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsular
- N Bloom & Associates - Bridlington Road, Herts Valleys
- Newburn Dental Surgery, Newcastle Gateshead
- No.1 Nursery Road Dental Practice, Birmingham CrossCity
- Norfolk Square Dental Practice, Brighton and Hove
- Oasis Dental Care Central - South Woodford, Redbridge
- Parbold Dental Practice, West Lancashire
- Perton Dental Practice, South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsular
- Priory Dental Practice, Bedfordshire
- Roe Lane Family Dental Practice, Southport and Formby
- Rookery Road Dental Surgery, Sandwell and West Birmingham
- South Benfleet Dental Care, Castle Point and Rochford
- Stone Cross Dental Care, Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford
- The Wrekenton Dental Practice, Newcastle Gateshead
- The Wrekenton Dental Practice, Newcastle Gateshead
- Walworth Rd Dental Care, Southwark
- Willerby Dental Care Limited, East Riding of Yorkshire
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.”
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