CQC sets out new plans for dental services regulation
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- Published: Tuesday, 19 August 2014 07:33
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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its views on potential changes to the way it regulates primary care dental services in England from 2015 onwards. Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services, said: “Our priority is to take a more collaborative approach with our partners in order to monitor and improve dental care standards in future.” The BDA has responded positively to the statement.
To view the CQC primary care dental signposting statement and find out more about dental inspections, visit: http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/dentists
The CQC has published a primary care dental signposting statement, ‘A fresh start for the regulation and inspection of primary dental care services’, This comes ahead of a formal consultation and the start of trial inspections in November 2014. The new approach to regulation and inspection will be developed in partnership with other national organisations, dental care providers and people who use dental services.
In making sure that people receive safe, effective, high quality care, the CQC wants to ensure that regulation is proportionate and appropriate to the different sectors it regulates. The statement considers whether every inspection team should include a dental specialist advisor and people with extensive understanding of dental services, acting as ‘experts by experience.’
Because of the view that people using dental services are less likely to experience poor care, CQC proposes to inspect 10% of providers, focusing attention upon those that are seen as ‘cause for concern’, in the short term from spring 2015. However, if CQC does have any concerns about any service they will conduct inspections. CQC will also be seeking views on whether to provide ratings to dental practices after 2016.
For its new style dental inspections, CQC intends to make better use of intelligence about services and take a collaborative approach with partners such as the General Dental Council, NHS England and the NHS Business Services Authority in monitoring dental care standards. The regulator also wants to make sure that comments and feedback from the public and groups such as Healthwatch are integral to regulation.The proposals also note that CQC intends to develop its role in encouraging improvement through its inspection reports and exploration of themed reviews.
Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services, said:
“This statement marks a great opportunity to start discussions about the issues that matter most to the dental sector and people who use dental services. Our priority is to take a more collaborative approach with our partners in order to monitor and improve dental care standards in future. In future, we also want to increase our dialogue not only with providers but also with people accessing dental services and groups that represent them. I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in primary care dental services to share their thoughts with us at this initial signposting stage and when we launch our formal consultation this autumn. By doing so, we can we work together to ensure that our future approach can best serve both providers and people using dental services.”
To share your comments and responses to our primary care dental signposting statement, please send an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
BDA response
The British Dental Association (BDA) is encouraged that the CQC is to move towards targeted inspections of dental practices ensuring that dental experts are present on each inspection team. The BDA has long argued that the CQC needed move away from ‘one size fits all’ inspection regime, and expressed its hope of a more effective and efficient future for dental inspection.
John Milne, Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC), said: “Time and again, the CQC has shown dentistry to be a low risk sector. But for too long it adopted a costly ‘one size fits’ all approach to dental inspection – and so we welcome moves to a more targeted, risk based approach. We are pleased that the CQC appears to have listened to reason, so we finally see dental experts on the front line for dental inspections. It’s a simple, common sense move that would be seen as positive throughout the profession. We campaigned long and hard for these changes, and the result should be a more effective, more efficient inspection regime.”
The CQC has stated that it does not intend to rate dental providers when it starts its new approach to inspections in April 2015 but it will be seeking views on whether it should rate in the future. John Milne added: “It remains unclear if an OFSTED-style system is a decent fit for dentistry. The profession would need to be convinced that any rating system is fair and workable. We are a long way from that position at present.”
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