Dental Practice: CQC Registration

CQC Compliance Made Simple

The Health and Social Care Act 2008 came into force on the 1st October 2010. Since the 1st April 2011, all providers of Primary Dental Care are required to register with the Care Quality Commission, thereby demonstrating that they comply not only with the Act, but also with The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.

In order to register, the Dental Provider must complete a declaration as to whether their service meets the 16 CQC Outcomes of the ‘Essential standards of Quality and Safety’ which are required by the new Regulations.

Our System Provides All CQC Requirements:

• The policies which must be in place
• The procedures which must be in place
• In-depth policy and process instructions/information
• The other documentation which the CQC (previously CSCI) require to be in place

CQC Registration & Admission Criteria

In order to register, the Dental Provider must complete a declaration as to whether their service meets the 16 CQC Outcomes of the Essential standards of quality and safety which are required by the new Regulations. All of the regulations for the 16 CQC Outcomes fall under the following headings:

• Involvement and Information
• Personalised care, treatment and support
• Safeguarding and safety
• Suitability of Staffing
• Quality and Management

Explaining Regulated Activities

The Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulation 2010 details 15 regulated activities, from which a dental provider must select those regulated activities which are being carried on.

In practice a dental provider is likely to be required to register for only three of the regulated activities. These are:

1. Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
2. Surgical procedures
3. Diagnostic and screening procedures

Should there be any possibility that a dental provider may need to register for further regulated activities, then advice can be sought from the CQC under their “scope of registration”.

Types of Service Providers

There are three types of service provider: Organisations; Individuals; and Partnerships. When completing the registration application you need to define which of the three best describes your business. For ease of reference, limited companies and dental bodies corporate will be defined as “organisations”. “Individuals” are those dentists who operate in what is often referred to as single-handed practices. Should however, a dentist be operating in an expense-sharing relationship/partnership, then further clarification on whether they ought to register as an “individual” must be sought from the CQC. Partnership registrations must only be made where the partnership has joint and several liability.