38 steps to CQC compliance

Recommend on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Email this story

Email this story

Message (option)

Share this story

Oral health

Dental sealants a risk to kids, suggests study

Scientists discover why we crave chocolate

Power toothbrush gets The Gadget Show thumbs up

Ditch the manual toothbrush

I am principal dentist at 38 Devonshire Street, London, W1. I first heard about the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the new legislative requirements at the beginning of last summer when I very innocently attended a meeting at the BDA.

I had heard the initials CQC before but they had no real meaning to me. My realisation of the  implications has been a gradual one.
 
My relationship with CQC started with the hope that it would go away. I'm sure I'm not the only dentist who scanned the list of government quangos to be cut praying that the CQC would be included... it was not.
 
I made contact with Fiona Stuart-Wilson from UMD Professiona  and Tim Eldridge, the chairman of CODE and booked them to give an introductory seminar for Seminars@38 in November/December.  I attended along with my team. Thank heavens we did.
 
Christmas was utterly hijacked by the application form and with the deadline of 31 December. My first reaction was to feel cross that we were all as a profession being put under such pressure. I am in private practice and if a patient isn't treated with the utmost respect in every possible way, they vote with their feet.

When I got the the policy on safeguarding my staff from stress at work, I wanted to shout: 'But what about me? Can I object to complying with this on the basis that I am feeling very stressed and want a break?'

Several of my new year's resolutions had the letters CQC in them somewhere.
 
It took a couple of days. Well, maybe a week, actually, for me to see the whole thing more rationally. As the past couple of weeks have gone by, I have realised that there were – and still are – many, many gaps in our systems and, what the CQC has given us is a management checklist which is comprehensive.

I'm not saying it isn't rather over the top in many ways, but it is complete.

The CQC compliance requires teamwork. It is not possible to do it alone. I am purposely emphasising the word ‘team' as I am genuinely convinced that my practice's successes so far are – and have been – down to my incredible team.

Achieving CQC compliance will further build that team. We have been given a framework to improve our team performance and to build in proper line management and communication.

We have the ultimate opportunity to get everything out on the meeting table and share the tasks until they are done. Full engagement by the team in every area of the practice will be the result and I truly believe it will be a positive. We will engage in the necessary training as a team and it will be beneficial.
 
I am not quite at the stage where I am ready to thank the CQC for doing this – the next few months are still to unfold and I will be truthful, good or bad.

Let's say for now, I feel optimistic.
 
Next step: My team and I will attend Raj Majithia and Fiona Stuart-Wilson's full day workshops in February on the subjects of clinical governance and audit, staffing and training, record keeping, treatment planning & consent, and CQC and the DCP.
 
 
 

Rate this story

Pass the sick bag and when I'm done Imay empty it over your sanctimonious head

Posted by geomcc 8/2/11 at 20:51

Note that only in private practice patients are treated with utmost respect !!!
Drivel !!

Posted by Frasse 8/2/11 at 23:45

What sycophantic tosh this article is! We are truly and utterly 'done for' if this sort of stuff is all the profession can come up in response to 'let's let the GCSE tick-box failures ruin and rule our lives'. As they may say in other blogs - FFS (ake).

Posted by docholliday 10/2/11 at 00:05

Gaynor Barrett should be congratulated for taking a positive attitude towards the CQC regulations. By adopting sportsman Michael Jordan's matra: "Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation" she has improved the way she and her team work and the service she offers her patients. Those that comment sceptically can only fortify non-sceptics such as Dr Barrett, since she will learn and benefit more by adopting a positive attitude than those who can only criticise. It is a great lesson for life.

Posted by Tracy Posner 11/2/11 at 07:52

'Always look on the bright side of life, de dum, de dum de dum de dum ........'

Posted by docholliday 11/2/11 at 09:47

Tracy,
Are you working for one of these componies popping up like mushrooms selling their legionella assesments and other nonsense?
In that case I undestands your support and enthusiasm for this.

Posted by Frasse 13/2/11 at 17:22

Frasse - is it Henry, the mild-mannered janitor? Could be.......

Posted by docholliday 13/2/11 at 18:59

On a mission with the phooeymobile !!

Posted by Frasse 13/2/11 at 21:25

This seems an extraordinarily focused and at the same time candid view - superb! Someone at last talking sense, and turning something into a win-win for all. Tracy's point above sums it up brilliantly. Let's get down to sorting things out - I for one will be bringing colleagues to your seminars - 38 Devonshire Street looks a superb place. Anyone else seen through the fog yet?

Posted by harleydentist 14/2/11 at 16:24

So far the CQC has only managed to rub up the profession the wrong way.
The demand for repeated information that is already held by the GDC and the CQC itself is not only an irritation to dentists, it also proves that the CQC is not interested in lessening the burden of registration. And why should they?
They have a legalised extortion scheme going with jobs for the boys.
Admittedly there should be some form of practice inspection. It could have been done easily by extending the powers of the PCTs to cover inspection of private practices, but the “state” would rather try with a “one size fits all” model, and preferably at arms lengths away from the government, should it implode.
The big difference from say hospital staff is that we have to make a living like small businesses, whereas they are salaried, so to them it doesn’t matter if they fill in forms or see patients, they are paid for the hours. We both have to fill in forms and see patients, but only make money when we see patients. As I have now run out of hours in the day to produce “evidence” to the CQC inspection, I will now have to reduce my clinical hours, and charge more for the hours I do clinical work. I can do that as I am private, but what are our health service colleagues to do? As if dentistry in this country is not expensive enough.
To Gaynor, I am pleased for you that you have a team that can help you. My team consists of me and one nurse and one receptionist. After hours they go home, I carry on with the CQC gobbledegook, and I am already very fed up with it.

Posted by dentistman 14/2/11 at 18:05

Dear Harleydentist, fog off

Posted by geomcc 14/2/11 at 21:00

Harleydentist,
I am afraid the fog will just get thicker. Say that to the newly graduate dentists who might want to buy a practice in a few years time but will not have a chance and will be put off by all the red tapes. Say it to the colleagues running single handed practices. Say it to the fifty something colleagues who are thinking of giving up practicing Dentistry because of all the silly regulations that have become too much of a burden to them.
How come the quality of dental care in most of European countries (Comparable to the UK) is many times better than here? In spite of and not because of having the same kind of crippling regulations.

Posted by Frasse 14/2/11 at 20:49

Frasse - in the words of the late, great, Roy Orbison 'You got it'. 50-something - that'll be me (soon). As they say 'I'm out'. ASAP. My brother-in-law is 38. He is single-handed NHS. Well, he was. Off sick with severe stress - given another 30 days off. There is no answer to the jobsworth untermensch now controlling our so-called 'profession'. I've given up. Take the money and run is all I can come up with. Bit sad, really! It isn't going to improve.

Posted by docholliday 14/2/11 at 23:23

The question to ask always is Cui bono? Somebody is making a lot of money out of this and related scams. Surely what the profession should be doing is exposing the corruption and profiteering, and doing some naming and shaming. For mine own part I am very relieved to be out of it, but sad at the same time at what has happened. All this box ticking to check that you have the right brand of dental drill, but no check on whether the surgeon has any skill at using it - or even a scalpel!

Posted by Martin Rooke-Matthews 16/2/11 at 12:51

"You say you want a revolution!"
In October I told the partners here that we couldn't complain anymore and that we just had to get on with the CQC "stuff"- which we did. Whilst there have been some positives to it, as the process has moved on it has become apparent that there are some very real issues that need to be discussed and resolved effectively by the CQC together with the profession.
How is this going to happen? The BDA have failed to call back on any CQC enquiries- indeed leaving a message that they are very busy with calls about CQC on their own helpline led me to leave a message asking why they haven't employed more staff to cope with this extra workload- it's not as though this extra work could not have been predicted
The GDC are only interested in the safety of the patients- never mind that instead of looking at x-rays of a cancer patient the night before surgery, it would seem they are happier for the Oral Surgeon to photocopy his entire CPD file for me.

There is no effective representation for the working dentist. The CQC are probably doing their best but the constraints are just too rigid and their knowledge of dentistry is just too little. Anyone fancy starting an effective "working committee"?

Posted by Sara Pittack 23/2/11 at 14:58