Registration and compliance

By April 1, 2011 all NHS, private and mixed dental practices are required to have register with the independent regulator, the Care Quality Commission. The registration period began in November with a four week window given to those practices who have already pre-registered. Registration isn’t voluntary and those dental practices that haven’t registered will be trading illegally. If you haven’t pre-registered online yet, you should do so immediately. If you do not have access to the internet, you can call CQC on 03000 616161 and arrange for postal registration.

The general consensus among members of the dental profession seems to be that CQC registration is another time consuming administrative procedure for an already over-regulated industry. Yes, we are ridiculously over-regulated, and yes, registration and subsequent compliance will require a large proportion of our time over the coming months. However, in the long term, CQC compliance could have a positive outcome. The truth is, it has been on the cards for a long time. First, care homes registered with the healthcare commission. Then came laser registration, last year NHS trusts registered with CQC, dentistry now and medics will have to register next year.