Last Updated on 12th November 2018
Evesham Dental Health Team in Worcestershire has been given a clean bill of health by government health watchdogs, the Care Quality Commission.
Our Broadway Road practice had a routine visit by CQC inspectors in October to check on the care and welfare of our patients, our cleanliness and the infection control systems we have in place.
The CQC is a government body that regulates and inspects health and social care services in England and this Review of Compliance is something that all dental practices in England have to undergo.
Our Worcestershire dental practice received fantastic feedback on the day and was found to be ‘compliant’ in all areas – the highest level our team could achieve – following the thorough assessment, which also saw staff and patients interviewed.
The inspector said: “On the day of inspection we collected 41 CQC comment cards filled in by patients and received 18 ‘share your experience’ contacts through the CQC database. This information gave us an extremely positive view of the practice.
“We noted that the practice ethos was to provide quality dental care in an environment that was supportive, friendly and relaxed. Strong and effective leadership were provided by the principal dentist and empowered practice manager, and staff felt involved and supported and worked well as a team.
“We identified an area of notable practice in that the practice was dedicated to protecting patients from oral cancer and had purchased equipment that could identify abnormal cells often pertaining to oral cancer. All patients were screened using this equipment at every six monthly assessment appointment. If there was a change in the cells, patients were then recalled for a retest at a set period of time and then referred to secondary care if appropriate.
“In addition to this the practice advertised in the local GP practices and pharmacies that this service was free for any local person who wished to be screened as a commitment to minimising late diagnosis of oral cancer in the local area and saving lives.”
Richard Colebourne, principal dentist at Evesham Dental Health Team, said: “We are delighted with the CQC’s findings and are particularly proud of the comments made by some of our patients, which show that we are achieving our aims of providing excellent dental care to our community.
“We would like to thank all our patients who kindly took the time to provide feedback on their care – we received an unprecedented amount of comments from you all, and on the day the assessor commented that the positive comments were ‘off the scale’! We are very grateful to you all for sharing your experiences of EDHT because they provided an extremely positive picture of a professional, friendly, caring and high quality service.”
The full report can be found by clicking here.
