Launched this week, The State of Health and Adult Social Care in England 2013/14, gives a perspective on the state of health care and adult social care in England focusing on the quality of care provided across more than 40,000 care services – including 10,000 dental practices.
The report concludes that the “last three years of inspections have shown… that the vast majority of dental care provided in England is of high quality” and “lower risk than most other sectors”. It also points out that where concerns were raised, particularly around issues of infection prevention and control, dentists have been quick to rectify problems.
John Milne, chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee, said: “The latest CQC report represents another ringing endorsement for good practice in our profession. Once again we hear patients are at less risk when they visit their dentist than they are with most other healthcare professionals. Their teams have found dentists are providing high quality care, and where fault has been found practitioners have been willing to act quickly and solve problems.
“This latest evidence entirely justifies the CQC’s willingness to reconsider its ‘one size fits’ all approach to dental inspection. It’s the right time to adopt a targeted, risk based approach, with dental experts on hand to drive up standards where they are needed most.”