Dental Tribune Untited Kingdom Edition

United Kingdom Edition April 16-22, 2012 IMAGING SYSTEMS | TREATMENT CENTRES | HANDPIECES | HYGIENE SYSTEMS | CAD/CAM SYSTEMS T h e D e n t a l C o m p a n y Telephone: 0845 0715040 e-mail: info@sironadental.co.uk www.sironadental.co.uk Sirona Dental Systems, Lakeside House, 1 Furzeground Way, Stockley Park, Heathrow, London UB11 1BD XIOSPLUS – THE INTRAORAL SENSOR SYSTEM USB or Ethernet? Simplify everything. Everything simplified. Digital imaging can be so simple: Ergonomically and anatomically perfect placement of the sensor, imaging with lowest dose, images with excellent image quality available within seconds, intuitive diagnostics and comfortable post-processing of the data in the practice workflow. USB or Ethernet operation – the choice is yours. Sirona offers the right solution for each use case: The XIOSPLUS intraoral sensor system – as flexible and individual as your dental practice. Enjoy every day. With Sirona. T he Health and Social Care (HSC) Act con- tinues to dominate the news during 2012. The regu- latory basis of health care ser- vices in the UK have been un- der the microscope for some time now with the Health and Social Care Act of 2008 (Regu- lated Activities) Regulations 2010 creating a new range of requirements for dental care providers alongside those for our colleagues in other health care sectors. Whilst there is nothing new about dental professionals working to a range of guide- lines and standards that aim to ensure high standards of quali- ty and safety in patient care, the way that the regulations intro- duced in 2011 seek to involve each member of the dental team is. As such each and eve- ry member of the dental team needs to know and understand the practices’ quality stand- ards and Statement of Purpose. They must also be trained and supported to play their role in delivering suitable quality care services to patients. The regulatory basis for dental care is set out in the HSC Act. The standards for each constituent Country of the UK have been stipulated by an ap- pointed local regulatory body. NHS and independent practices in England will be governed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), in Scotland this will be the role of Healthcare Im- provement Scotland (HIS), in Wales the CQC will work in col- laboration with the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and in Northern Ireland the standards have been set by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Au- thority (RQIA). Irrespective of where your practice is located, the new culture of healthcare is one of the whole team working to meet required care standards. Inspectors will visit practices to ensure that each member of the team, irrespective of whether or not they are a GDC registrant have the training and resources required to provide safe, high quality dental care and services. When it comes to defining the receptionists’ role to ensure compliance with healthcare regulations, there are several es- sential requirements. For each of these the Provider and Reg- istered Manager must develop policies and procedures. To name but a few, these include procedures for: blending NHS and private services, communi- cating about and collecting pa- tient’s fees, data security, equal- ity and diversity, patient safety, consent, confidentiality, child protection, risk assessment, the Mental Capacity Act, Informa- tion Governance requirements and many more. Irrespective of whether it is delivered in- house or by external trainers, training and preparation for each of these complex aspects needs to be delivered to ensure practice policy and procedures shape the services delivered to patients, rather than simply filling-up a folder on a shelf in an office. High quality and customer care sits at the core of care quali- ty standards. Service with a smile is a significant first step toward creating a welcoming environ- ment. However, a smile alone is not enough to create a percep- tion of competence. Intelligent reception services are developed with in-depth understanding of patients’ needs for information about all aspects of their treat- ment. Care quality standards specify the need to collect infor- mation so that patient satisfaction levels can be monitored. Then to go on to use the information gath- ered, to evolve systems and pro- cedures to meet the needs identi- fied by patients, the practice team and regulatory bodies. Historically, the training and development needs for recep- tion staff have been side-lined. In the current regulatory climate it would be naive of practices to overlook the need for their recep- tion teams to be fully involved in developing care standards. Even although they are not GDC registrants in their own right, unless receptionists are fully in- volved in setting and meeting the practice’s standards of quality and care, the hard work of clini- cal teams will fail to reach their full potential. DT Glenys Bridges highlights the need for team work The receptionist role in CQC compliance Service with a smile is a significant first step toward creating a welcoming environment About the author Glenys Bridges is an independent dental team trainer. She can be con- tacted at glenys.bridges@gmail.com ‘Inspectors will visit practices to ensure that each member of the team, irrespective of whether or not they are a GDC regis- trant have the training and resources required to provide safe, high quality dental care and services’