Dental Practice: Welcome

Welcome

Welcome to the QCS Dental Management page, where we will take you through a management system designed to not only help you meet CQC compliance, but to also ensure that you have direction in meeting the needs of all your patients. As with all QCS management systems you can expect to find support when you require it and continuous development, so that the latest learning is incorporated into new policies by our expert contributors.

Clinical Governance

All dental professions will be familiar with the eight key pillars of Clinical Governance. As a philosophy which underpins how healthcare practice must be carried out, it ranges widely from understanding risk management and education and training, to performing audits and providing effective information management. It seeks to improve standards in care, whilst simultaneously protecting the public from unacceptable risks. As a technique clinical governance provides the framework for accountability for the delivery of dental care.

All Dentists will be acutely aware that clinical governance is a statutory requirement of NHS Boards, so the need to have a management system which includes a module specifically about Clinical Governance, is a necessity. What makes our approach unique, is that we incorporate advice from the relevant governing bodies where appropriate, provide you with specific policies that are tailored towards Clinical Governance, such as Consent, Auditing, Patient Involvement and Evidence Based Practice, whilst providing you with detailed instructions on how to fulfil not only the requirements of the Care Quality Commission, but also of the General Dental Council.

The entire Clinical Governance module is constantly reviewed and updated to ensure relevance and accuracy.

Regulated Activities

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’. For ease of use, the QCS dental management system incorporates numerous policies (including a CQC Outcomes section) which deal with these specific regulated activities.

Dentistry

All providers of primary dental care are required under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to not only be registered with the Care Quality Commission, but to also comply with the provisions of the Act ensuring that the “Essential Standards of Quality and Safety” are always being complied with.

Unlike the adult social care profession who have been used to CQC regulation (and its predecessors) for some time now, we recognise that this change has been challenging for the dental profession, who are also scrutinised by other regulatory bodies. To assist with compliance against the essential standards, we have created a dental management system which takes the onerous nature out of what is required of the practice manager or the lead dentist.

Challenges are aplenty for the dental professional in 2012, with the need to be an ever more prudent business manager becoming a priority. Fears of NHS privatisation by the backdoor, is starting to prompt decreases in funding, greater competition and further difficulty in winning contracts. Running your practice more efficiently is one way of keeping ahead of the competition. With over 200 policies and procedures in place already, QCS provides you with the head start your business needs.

CQC Compliance

Dental practices are required by law to be compliant with the Essential Standards in Quality and Safety and their associated Outcomes created by the Care Quality Commission. Understanding your relationship with the regulator and its role in ensuring that your practice best serves the needs of the service user is a fundamental learning curve for all dental professionals.

The QCS dental management system has been designed to help your practice achieve CQC compliance and then maintain it. We take the hard work out of ensuring that your policies meet all of the CQC Outcomes and that any legislative and best practice changes are incorporated via updates, leaving you to concentrate on delivering high levels of care to your service users.

Managing and maintaining compliance with the Care Quality Commission and the regulations it enforces can be particularly challenging for most businesses. QCS is here to make this simple, pain-free and easy to understand.

CQC Outcomes

Understanding the Care Quality Commission Outcomes and how they relate to the 28 Essential Standards in Quality and Safety is a vital part of the work of all dental practitioners.

With 16 of the Essential Standards defined as ‘key’ and currently applicable, the associated outcomes determine what is expected to be in place from the perspective of the service user. Providers of dental care in whatever capacity need to have a firm understanding of the CQC Outcomes and how they apply to their service type.

Targeted assessments can help to improve service delivery, even during lean times when resources are constrained. Risk Assessments, Audits and Patient Group Directions are just three ways in which you can help your business to meet the requirements of a specific Outcome.

To assist you with this undertaking we have developed a module which focuses on all of the CQC Outcomes and explain how they work. We have also ensured that all of our policies and procedures are outcome compliant, so that they can be safely implemented within your care business.

CQC Registration

Registration with the CQC proved initially to be quite a trial for the dental professions – endless delays, poor communication of what was expected during the application process etc. Today this process has improved with the overwhelming majority of dental practices now successfully registered.

For new practices there are numerous hurdles to surmount, the easiest of which to completing the application form and making your CRB request. Declaring if you comply with a particular outcome requires you to fully understand that outcome and to have ready all of the CQC compliant policies and procedures to support its continual implementation.

Our leading CQC compliance system is based upon a set of over 200 unique policies and procedures which will assist you in not only achieving a successful registration, but also in maintaining your compliance.

With a panel of expert contributors always reviewing and updating our policies, you can be assured that your CQC registration requirements are being continuously looked at, so that your registration experience is given the kick start it requires.