UKAS accreditation of the Excel programme is ground breaking because it is the first dental service worldwide to achieve such recognition.
UKAS are the sole national accreditation body recognised by government to assess organisations that provide certification, testing and inspection services against internationally agreed standards. UKAS accredit over 3,000 organisations worldwide throughout industry, business and commerce for this purpose. Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates an organisation’s competence, impartiality, capability and helps underpin the credibility of performance, goods and services. The accreditation of Denplan’s Excel programme will ensure that patients continue to receive high standards and quality of care in dentistry, which is supportive of current NHS and overall government healthcare objectives.
Henry Clover, deputy chief dental officer at Denplan, who is responsible for leading Denplan through the accreditation process, commented: “We are thrilled that fifteen years after the launch of the Excel programme, heralding the arrival of a unique quality assurance programme in UK dentistry, it has now been granted UKAS accreditation. This is the culmination of an enormous amount of work to demonstrate that all aspects of the Excel programme conform to the ISO 17065 standard for bodies certifying products, processes and services.
“UKAS accreditation of the Denplan Excel programme is recognition that Denplan has the necessary competence, combined with robust procedures and operations in place to assess the wide range of clinical, governance, legal and regulatory tasks that dental practices have to perform. This will continue to ensure that high standards in patient care and communication are met by Denplan’s Excel dentists.
“We believe that this accolade will also place all Excel dentists in a favourable position, as the GDC (General Dental Council) moves towards introducing a revalidation scheme (now known as ‘continuing assurance’) and regulators like the CQC also recognising the potential value of clinical service accreditation and peer review schemes as information sources to support its inspections.”
Paul Stennett, chief executive of UKAS commented: “Congratulations to everyone at Denplan on becoming the world’s first dental service to achieve UKAS accreditation. Confidence in the quality of a number of diverse health and social care services is already underpinned by UKAS accreditation, from imaging services and medical laboratories, to physiological services and care home inspections. Accreditation of the Denplan Excel programme represents a natural extension of that confidence into the dental care sector, providing assurance to commissioners, providers and patients alike.”
Accreditation will be monitored through annual surveillance visits, with a full re-assessment every four years. Denplan Excel dentists will now be allowed to use the UKAS symbol alongside the Excel logo and Denplan will be supplying practices with a new Excel plaque free of charge.
Excel dentists also gain free access to Denplan’s market leading patient communication and assessment tool, DEPPA. This is an evidence based assessment which allows dentists to produce a colour coded report to present to patients which can help aid understanding and communication regarding their oral health and future risk of dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth wear and oral cancer. Further information about Denplan Excel and DEPPA can be found at www.denplan.co.uk/excel