Dentistry has never been so regulated. From HTM01-05 to CQC along with a raft of statutory obligations regarding everything from employment to insurance, it is easy to become swamped by bureaucracy.
The pressures on dental practice owners and managers are heavy and it can be extremely stressful worrying about meeting regulatory requirements, especially on top of concerns over the economy and the market generally.
However, there are products widely available aimed at helping practices comply with CQC and other regulations. For instance, CODE, the association that represents a quarter of all the UK's dental practice owners and managers, has developed a comprehensive range of products, based on decades of experience in compliance and the shared experiences of its members.
A great deal of CQC compliance focuses on informed patient consent and the management and governance of patient information – collecting, collating, storing and sharing it. Today's dental patients have high expectations and they're also much better informed about their rights and your responsibilities and they will often have done their own research about treatments and procedures before visiting the dentist. Information leaflets on oral health advice or specific treatments that are jargon free without being patronising are invaluable. Similarly, clear and concise home care instructions are a boon to patients as a source of reference and will help promote good oral health. The better the information available about advanced and aesthetic treatments, the greater the chance of patient acceptance. Apart from anything, being able to provide such information saves the dental team repeating information yet gives them time to answer patients' questions or concerns.
Consent forms and patient medical history forms are useful for practice information systems and along with patient satisfaction surveys are a CQC requirement. Specially designed comments and suggestions cards can be kept at reception and patients encouraged to complete them. The responses can then be analysed and discussed at practice meetings and acted upon accordingly. This sort of attention to detail will prove important in terms of compliance as when CQC inspectors arrive, it allows you to show evidence of implementation and practice protocols.
Because CODE has been developing products and services to help the smooth running of dental practices and understands the issues involved in compliance, you can rely on our range of resources, and your patients can rely on you.