UK-wide regulations for care quality and safety

Today, more than ever, healthcare professionals are being called to account when patients find aspects of their care to be unsatisfactory. In respect of dental healthcare provision the Dental Complaints Service's Annual Review of 2010/2011 revealed that more than half of the complaints they received over that period were about non-clinical aspects of patient care. The Annual Review reveals that many of the complaints in this category are about:

? Poor standards of communication

? Being treated disrespectfully by dental team members

? Misunderstandings about fees

? Not being involved in treatment planning.

Successive quality management initiatives such as clinical governance (CG) (the system through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care, by creating an environment in which clinical excellence will flourish) have provided guidance for health professionals about quality aspects of clinical and non-clinical patient care. CG has been embedded into the fabric of the UK's best dental care providers; however, no meaningful mechanisms are in place to address shortfalls in practices that have failed to recognise and comply with the CG standards.