A dental provider which failed to register its dental surgeries with the Care Quality Commission as required by law has been fined £10,000 by magistrates in Northumberland.
CQC brought the case against the Cowpen and Waterloo Dental partnership, part of the Integrated Dental Holdings (IDH) group based in Manchester, which runs a large number of limited companies and partnerships that operate dental practices.
At the Mid and South East Northumberland Magistrates' court on Wednesday, Cowpen and Waterloo Dental Partnership pleaded guilty to a charge of operating two dental practices without being registered, in breach of the Health and Social Care Act.
The court heard that during 2012 CQC was concerned that IDH had taken over dental practices from other providers without applying to register ahead of these takeovers. This meant that those dental practices were operating without being registered, as required by law.
In November 2012, CQC met with senior representatives of the company to express their concern. IDH said that in future they would make sure that they obtained registration before opening newly-acquired surgeries.
Last year CQC heard that the Cowpen and Waterloo Dental Practice Partnership, part of the IDH group, was operating without registration. The partnership provides two surgeries in Blyth, Northumberland. Again, members of the partnership said that they would comply with the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act. CQC told the court that despite its previous assurances, IDH had failed to take the requirements of regulation seriously.
The court fined the partnership £10,000 and ordered them to pay full court costs of £8,928.
Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services, said:
"We made it very clear to representatives of IDH in 2012 that we would not condone their continuing to operate without the necessary registration in place.
"Registration with the Care Quality Commission is required by law in order to protect people who use dental services and we will not hesitate to take legal action where dental providers are found to be operating without registration. IDH should have been fully aware of the legal requirements and therefore should not have allowed themselves to get into this position."
Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Waterloo Dental Practice.