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Let’s face it – CQC inspections can be scary stuff for principals and managers (and even associates!)
As per your request, I brought on a CQC Specialist Advisor, Dr Chita Davda to share her top tips to passing with flying colours.
We discussed the common things that CQC checks on a practice, common questions they ask, and some tips on how to pass the examination. The emphasis is on understanding that the CQC and dental professionals share the same core ethics. Inspections aren’t about catching each other out but ensuring the best possible care for patients.
Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below!
If you want to learn more about Dr Chita, you can check out her website https://www.trainwithchita.co.uk
In the upcoming CPD event at The Shard, attendees will get a rare opportunity to hear from a lead inspector from the CQC. This provides a chance to debunk myths and understand common errors, offering clarity to dental professionals.
If you want to be a part of this event, head over to https://protrusive.co.uk/shard
If you enjoyed this episode, you will also like Indemnity vs Insurance 2023 โ Which one is best for you? โ GF019
Did you know? You can get CPD from the Web App or Phone App and watch premium clinical videos, for less than a tax deductible Nandoโs per month?
Click below for full episode transcript:
Episode Teaser: Do you go through the notes? Is there a sort of a protocol you follow to go through every associate, every dentist's notes? How does that work?[Ruchita]
Yeah, so we try and keep it as fair as possible. And obviously we’ll ask permission of the dentist just to make sure they’re okay for us to go through it.
[Jaz]
And if they say no, is that a cheat code?
[Ruchita]
If they say no, then we feel like you want something to hide. Try not to say no. I’ve had it queried a couple of times, but also we have like a warrant when we go into a practice. So in theory, we are able to access what we need to. But I’d also, as a fellow dentist, I like to just keep that respect for everyone.
So even if I have to look at the drawers inside a dent, like a surgery, I’ll always just be like, do you mind if I have a look? If there’s anything you don’t want me to see, maybe just get rid of it for a few minutes and then put it back in if that’s okay.
Jaz’s Introduction
Hello, Protruserati. I’m Jaz Gulati and welcome to a group function. We haven’t done one of these episodes in a long while. A GF episode is basically when we take a question from the Protruserati. And you know what? I’ve always kind of shied away from compliance, right? Compliance type things don’t excite me so much, but it’s important to cover because that’s what allows us to practice our dentistry safely.
And that’s exactly what today is about. So there’s something in the UK called the Care Quality Commission or the CQC, and every dental practice needs to have some sort of inspection at some point from the CQC to make sure that everything is safe and well for that practice to deliver patient care.
So I brought on today Dr. Ruchita Davda to talk us about what are the common pitfalls we make when it comes to these CQC inspections and how to make sure we pass with flying colors. There are no premium notes for this episode, but at the end you can get CPD for this by answering a few questions on the app. Otherwise, those of you listening, please enjoy those of you watching.
It’s not a super visual episode, but there’s so many important nuggets. If you are a UK practitioner and you have a practice, or you’re thinking about buying a practice one day, it gives you great insights into what the CQC actually does and how to make sure you are prepared for that eventuality. Please enjoy the episode and I’ll catch you in the outro.
Main Episode:
Chita Davida, welcome to the Protrusive Dental Podcast. How are you?
[Ruchita]
I am good. Thank you. And how are you, Jaz?
[Jaz]
You know what? I’ve had the sniffles. I’ve been trying to shake it off for the longest time. And I emailed everyone about it, the list and stuff. It’s something in the air. Something’s going around.
[Ruchita]
Yeah. A good little tip, which I don’t know if it’s fine to share. But if you keep drinking lots of water, then make sure you’re having vitamin D for like your immune system. So you don’t slack on that, basically.
[Jaz]
I’m definitely taking my vitamin D. And also after, there’s an episode I did with Prav Solanki a while ago. And he got me into making sure that I do the three of a blood testing every three months, which I think you’re quite into as well. These kind of like it checking your body. Cause obviously when I get you into yourself, you’re so much more than a dentist. Like your whole facets about health and stuff. So let’s start with that Chita. Tell us about you, yourself.
[Ruchita]
Cool. So I’m a general dentist qualified around 12 years ago. And then three years ago, it’s actually just before COVID I wanted to kind of get into health and I kind of had a bit of a transformation where I lost a little bit of weight, but I found.
That my journey was probably longer than it could have been by working with like different personal trainers, online coaches, and I was like surely it must be easier than this, like surely I don’t just have to eat broccoli every day to lose weight and work out loads in the gym. So I did like a personal training course, I’ve worked with various mentors, and I’m also like an online coach.
So I basically mainly help women lose weight, feel like the best version of themselves, so super confident, but whilst focusing on health. So we look at like blood test analysis, and woman analysis, it just works really well. And I actually work with a lot of dentists, so it’s quite nice because I know how stressful our lifestyle can be, how sedentary it can be as well.
But I’ve always got little tips and tricks up my sleeve to help. And then also three years ago, I started working with CQC as a specialist dental advisor, which I’m really excited to kind of talk about on the podcast today.
[Jaz]
So what is that? I mean, that’s we’ll invite you back when they talk about health and stuff. I’m always into that, so that’s exciting already. But something that I want to reserve the audience is for those my listeners and watchers outside the UK, I’m so sorry. kind of skip the next episode before episode, maybe jump back 100 few episodes ago. This is more for the UK group, basically, because CQC is a UK thing.
So our mission statement, Chita, by the end of this episode is kind of like a CQC for dummies. It’s kind of like, explain CQC to me, like, I’m 12 years old, like I’m having my first inspection, like, that’s kind of like the angle we want to go, right? So what capacity do you work with in CQC? Like, what is your role?
And how and to what capacity can you help us? Like, can you spill all the beans? What are you allowed and not allowed to do?
[Ruchita]
I can spill a lot of beans, but like within reason. So I don’t know if you remember, maybe I’m showing my age, but a really, really long time ago. So when CQC first started, they used to basically have like general people coming out to inspect dental practices.
So they may have been like policemen, teachers, and they didn’t really understand what a dental practice was. So they may be like, show me a rubber dam kit for an extraction. You’d be like, well, you don’t use one for that. And that’s when they realized, actually, we need to have dentists or like therapists, hygienists, dental nurses on board.
So what happens in a CQC inspection is you have your lead inspector. So they’re like the main person. They write the report. And then they get to invite like a dentist or a therapist or a hygienist or a dental nurse, which is someone like me. And then we kind of make it realistic. So, working in practice, we know that everything cannot be perfect, but the purpose of a CQC inspection is just to make sure that patients are being looked after and that everyone is safe and we’re just following the correct guidelines.
So as a dentist, I’m going to be honest, before I worked with CQC, there were some things that I probably thought, why are they asking this? Or it’s a bit stupid, or it’s a little bit, like, why do they need to know? And then actually, since having my role with them, I’ve learned that the way I do dentistry isn’t how, like, everyone else would do dentistry.
So that, unfortunately, there are some people who don’t follow guidelines, who won’t follow DECON and things like that. And then that’s why CQC have had to kind of had a big role. So it’s just making sure, like, everyone just following the right things. We’re never there to catch anyone out. We’re actually there to help dentists as well and it’s more just patient safety. So and sometimes we can get whistleblowers and it’s actually just knowing that could be a disgruntled staff member. It may not actually be that the practice is unsafe or dirty. But we’re just kind of doing the checks before someone takes it further to like the media or something like that and we can say actually we’ve checked it. We’re happy with it. So yeah hopefully that means.
[Jaz]
The way I see CQC, like any regulator for any profession, forget dentistry, right? You will always like, have that bitterness towards your regulator. You’ll always be like, oh no, it’s them again. Like I just want to continue on my life. But the way I see it, the way I see CQC, and please correct me if my analogy is wrong here, is when you go to a restaurant or any takeaway, they’ve got that food safety like one to five, right?
And like, you will still eat out of four. People, okay, I’ll see it at a four, three I might snub at, okay, even me, okay, three I might snub at, but like they’re there for a reason to make sure that things are safe for the consumer. Is that a good analogy, good comparison to what the CQC you think does?
[Ruchita]
Not far off. I guess we can’t rate it with CQC. So it’s either you’ve been fine in an inspection or you may have to do a little bit of work or you’ve not been fine. So for us, it’s really hard to actually rate a practice because CQC can only actually inspect around 10 percent of practices a year. So say, for example, if you were a patient and you’re comparing to a practice that has never been inspected, it’s not fair because you’re not kind of comparing like to like.
So if someone was graded like a 5 out of 5 and someone else didn’t have a grade, it’s just because they’ve not had an inspection. And because we can only inspect so many in a year, that’s why we don’t grade it on that system. So it’s more just, if you’ve had one, you’ve had one, you get a report written about how the practice is.
If you haven’t had one, you’re probably going to get one. So just keep up with everything because-
[Jaz]
And listen to this all the way through because there’ll be some gems in here, right? So let’s cover it. So how often is a practice supposed to be CQC inspected? And also answer that in the realms of let’s pretend I’ve literally started a squat practice yesterday, right?
So when can I expect my first one? Or if you’re an established practice, what’s the cycle?
[Ruchita]
So with, if you’re like a squat practice, in order to have like been able to be allowed to open up, you would have had to register with CQC, so they would have done like a primary analysis, like a phone call with you just to make sure that you’re fit to run a practice, let’s just say.
But there is a big backlog because a lot of squat practices are opening up at the moment and obviously we know that can be aligned with like how the NHS is going. And then if you’re just like a normal general practice, been open for years. It’s actually, they have a list so they just try and get through every practice as much as possible.
It’s kind of a bit like luck of the draw a little bit. So if someone’s like had concerns and patients are whistleblowing, they’re going to be like being inspected. But you’ll be told on the day of the inspection that that’s why you’re having your inspection. CQC are actually really open. We never hide anything from anyone because we were actually on the dentist side because we want you guys to do well because then patients are happy.
And then everyone loves dentists and then we’re media free, if that makes sense. So it can feel like luck of the draw. Some people may say, well, I had one five years ago. I had one seven years ago. Someone may say I’ve not had one. And it doesn’t mean if someone’s had one two in ten years that they’re riskier.
It’s just to do with algorithms a little bit. In fact, so it’s really hard to-
[Jaz]
So there’s no minimum requirement that every three years, every six years you should have one. There’s no minimum requirement, right?
[Ruchita]
No, no, but they are trying to change things. So what they’re hoping to do is maybe annually, you may have to release a bit of an annual statement. So a bit like how we have to like infection control and stuff like that. But that’s all the things that they are going to be announcing. And they’ll always tell dentists like, you always get those emails from CQC. So you’ll always kind of be aware if they’re changing things and it may not be necessarily an inspection where we come out. But you may just have a phone call or like a team’s meeting or you may just get asked to submit data a bit Like how GDC asked for R. C. P. D. and stuff like that. So, that’s the realm.
[Jaz]
Once a practice get informed that they’re having an inspection, it’s like a stressful time. It’s like you’re preparing for an exam, right? It’s like everything that you do, your livelihood, your work is going to be examined and you know that there’s a benefit of the examination. You know it should happen, but it’s still, still stressful. So how much notice is typically given to a practice?
[Ruchita]
So typically, on average, you do get around a two week notice period. But what’s really great, actually, with CQC is they’ll also have a call with, like, the registered manager of the practice. So they’ll actually go through what kind of things we’re going to be looking at on the day, because we never want anyone to be surprised.
But what we actually tend to find is the list can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming if someone’s not kept up with everything. So it’s all things that we know we should be doing, in all honesty. But sometimes, seeing patients, running a practice, managing patients, it can feel a bit too much, so I guess it’s just our reminder just to say, if we keep up with this, it kind of makes life a little bit easier.
So once you’ve had an inspection with us, it’s kind of having an action plan and just saying to the team, look, every few months, let’s just keep up with everything. And the way we kind of say leave an inspection is if we were to turn up unannounced, just have your practice ready to that level because you never know, it could happen and have things.
[Jaz]
You’re suggesting that an unannounced visit could happen?
[Ruchita]
Yeah, if something’s been quite massive, so if there’s been like a massive patient issue and they’ve informed CQC and we kind of deem it to be very, very unsafe that that practice may not be, shouldn’t really be seeing patients, we can sometimes turn up on the day. And it’s just literally for patient safety reasons.
[Jaz]
So it is a bit like an exam then, because if you’ve been doing your revision every day, bringing your homework every day, you got your highlighters, everything, all that, and then you’re going to be fine. Right? Cause that last minute revision is not going to really help. Whereas if you’re like me, if you’re a crammer, then yeah, you’re going to have a stressful few weeks.
It’s one of the reasons that I don’t own a practice and having said that actually as an associate, right? We still have a responsibility to our practice to make sure they’re looked after. We want them to pass with flying colors, obviously, right? What if some people nowadays, I’ve spoken to you about this before is they are renting a surgery within a practice.
Does that individual who’s renting, him or her, do they need to he or she, do they need to register as a separate entity with the CQC or are they sort of working in the license or the CQC of that practice?
[Ruchita]
So that one, I’ll be honest, I may not give the best answer to, so it could be worth maybe speaking to a lead inspector about that. Because it’s all kind of to do with what registration the practice provider has. So it can really vary from practice to practice on that side. But I guess as a clinician and when we’re like really passionate about what we do, we’ll follow all the right things, I’d like to hope anyway. So we’re going to make sure that the drawers are clean or our record keeping is going well.
And as a dental specialist advisor, I actually just look at the clinical side of things. And then it’s the lead inspector who looks at everything else around it. So I’m the person who would speak to the dentist, speak to the hygienist, actually have a look at records, make sure we’re following FGDP guidelines.
Seeing if audits are happening, are they relevant or are we just like, ticking we’re doing it and it’s the same audit that we see like four or five years in a row and we’re not doing any action plans from it. Is decon being carried out? So again, it’s one thing to say it’s being done well, but then it’s another thing if we see instruments and they’ve got GIC and stuff all over them and they’re in the cupboards.
So I’d like to hope it’s a bit like just having a fresh pair of eyes, because when we work in our own clinic every single day, there’ll be things that we may not think about, there could be a TV hanging off the wall and you just think that’s normal nowadays. And then someone fresh comes in and is like, oh, that could be like a bit of a trip hazard for someone or so it’s more I know, like dentists do get really, really worked up.
But I think one thing I like to hope is when I go to an inspection, I’ll always try and just reassure everyone. And just to say, even if something’s not right, we’re not gonna publicize it. We’re not gonna like say bad things, we’re actually just going to help you have an action plan, give you like a time frame to sort it by.
Any feedback, we’re always welcome for it. And then we just want you guys to be compliant. That’s all we want. No one wants anyone to fail or to breach or anything like that.
[Jaz]
So we’ve also just described all the things that you guys check for. So next question is. What are the common pitfalls? What kind of things? So what we can learn from is obviously, mistakes is a harsh word, but things that we can improve on. So having done so many inspections and whatnot, what are the top tips that you can pass on to the Protruserati hack here? Okay, actually a lot of practices are weak here. Focus on this to make sure that you don’t fall into the same trap these other practices have done?
[Ruchita]
So it’s a really good question, because I actually find most practices do have the same common pitfalls. So one of them, which is the most common one I see, is that CPD has never been done. And literally, the day we announced the inspection, we typically see that two weeks, the dentist, the associates, the team, are literally doing CPD, like nonstop. So that could be-
[Jaz]
But to me that’s shocking. For those who are like listening on Spotify. They didn’t see my reaction. My jaw, my eyes like went, popped out because I’m such a CPD junkie. I can’t imagine that. But you know what? I know what you mean actually. And sometimes it’s those course that coming onto it, IRMER.
[Ruchita]
Yeah.
[Jaz]
Disability awareness, all those core subjects. Mouth cancer. These are the ones that you often miss out, I think.
[Ruchita]
Yeah. And I think as well that there can be a lot of confusion out there of what we’re supposed to be doing, like the GDC guidelines and things like that, so, and I obviously appreciate it takes time to do CPD and things like that as well, but that’s like a typical one that I tend to see, and in fairness, on the day of inspection, the CPD has been done, so we’re never going to flag anyone up for it, like, it’s been ticked off, but I just know as a general dentist, the stress that would put someone through for like that two week period of trying to do like 50 hours or whatever you need to do of CPD.
So that’s like one thing that I would always just really love to encourage all the dentists, just keep up with it on a regular cycle if you can. And just pick topics that you are interested in, but also just covering, like, the main ones, because as you mentioned, like, there are some that people won’t know are now, like, mandatory, essentially, so, like, the disability and autism awareness, and so, again, a lot of practice will go to, because they can be quite isolated, they may not know about a lot of these things, so, yeah, so that tends to be one of the main ones, and audits tends to also be a little bit of a tricky one.
And again, I know they’re like not the most interesting things, but if you’re doing x rays and they’re not to a good standard and it keeps happening, again, it has an impact on the patient. So we just want to make sure that things are being completed on a regular basis. But they tend to be like the main ones and also just keeping sure like your recruitment records are in check. So that all the staff have got their DBS completed, their hep B titre levels. Not just that they’ve had the hep B, we actually want to know the titre levels, so again, safety for patients, and it’s just kind of just being organised, I’m going to be honest, is what we look out for as well.
[Jaz]
So the role here of the practice manager is instrumental, having a really organised, intelligent practice manager who’s been doing their due diligence is super important.
[Ruchita]
Yeah. And also I think having a really lovely team where like the dentists also want to get involved. Because a lot of the time I can appreciate there can be a bit of a kickback from dentists because they just want to really treat patients, they want to do really, really good quality work.
And if you’ve got someone kind of nagging you for like an infection control certificate, you’ll just be like, oh, I’ll do it later, I’ll do it later. So I tend to find when it’s like a nice team ethos and everyone understands the reason behind it. You could just see those inspections just flow really nicely, and it makes my day a lot nicer as well, I’ll be honest.
But out of interest, Jaz, have you had an inspection, like, at all when, in the last five years or so?
[Jaz]
I think so. In the last five years I’ve been across a few practices, and this one currently I’m coming into my fourth year. I’ve had a Denplan inspection, I don’t think I’ve had a CQC. So I’ve kind of escaped it. And I think at one practice where we had one, I was on holiday. It was like perfect time.
[Ruchita]
Convenient. It is always so many dentists seem to have annual leave on the day that we visit. Because it’d actually be quite interesting hearing it from like your point of view of like, if a practice that you were working at, say, for example, the practice manager goes, look, we’ve got an inspection in two weeks.
What would be like your dread or your worry? Or like, what would be your thoughts to be that? Oh, my God. What’s gonna happen?
[Jaz]
I guess as an associate, you think that, okay, all the biggest stuff is on the shoulders of the principal on the practice manager, compliance, that kind of stuff. So yeah, CPD is one to make sure all those important topics are ticked off.
And the other one would be. And then one of the question was to ask you is record keeping, make sure that you know, my record keeping is good enough to show to the people inspecting. And so my question to you, Chita is, do you go through the notes? Is there a sort of a protocol you follow to go through every associate, every dentist notes? How does that work?
[Ruchita]
Yeah. So we try and keep it as fair as possible. And so obviously we’ll ask permission of the dentist just to make sure they’re okay for us to go through it.
[Jaz]
And if they say no? Is that a cheat code?
[Ruchita]
They know, then we feel like you want something to hide. Don’t try not to say no. I’ve had it queried a couple of times, but also we have like a warrant when we go into a practice. So in theory, we are able to access what we need to. But I’d also as a fellow dentist, I like to just keep that respect for everyone. So even if I have to look at the drawers inside a dent, like a surgery, I’d always just be like, do you mind if I have a look if there’s anything you don’t want me to see, maybe just get rid of it for a few minutes and then put it back in if that’s okay.
So for records, we are just looking at, we’re following the FGDP guidelines. So, I guess it’s one of them, right? To me, it seems quite obvious, but just that we’re taking off medical history form. We’re getting consent from patients and we’re actually looking at x rays and we’re analysing them.
We’re diagnosing possibly going through a treatment plan, printed if needed. And, yeah, just kind of the, I like to think obvious things, but I know, again, it depends on the generation of dentists because the older generation, like, are still quite used to maybe saying exam done, S&P done, and that’s what we’re not looking for, I’m going to be honest.
[Jaz]
Yeah, well said. And so my final question then is, because you’ve mentioned what are the things that you check for your role within that capacity, the common mistakes that people are making that we can easily fix up on. What are your top tips to pass with flying colours?
[Ruchita]
So, first of all, I’d actually just say have a really supportive team, because if a team looks a little bit sticky on the day we’re going to think there’s alarm bells, in all honesty. So if everyone flows well, everyone’s getting on. So I’m not saying you put it on just for us, but that helps us see, like, are patients really the priority of this practice? Because at the end of the day, that’s all we’re really concerned about.
And then when you have your call with the lead inspector, which they’ll do, like, a week before, a few days before your inspection, just make sure you’ve gone through that checklist. So that’s where we’ll kind of say what we’re going to be looking for on the day. And also just to collaborate with us, so remember we’re not there to catch you out, to freak you out.
If we’re asking for something, just chat to us. If you haven’t got it, just be really, really honest. And then, as I said, as long as we kind of have an action plan to get it sorted, then you’re gonna be fine. So, just making sure, like, medical emergency drugs, like, they’re checked, they’re updated regularly.
That decon is being done well. The drawers and things are looking clean. All of your staff members at work with you. They’re safe. You’ve got all their records and things like that. And just be as friendly to us as we are to you guys. I kind of like to hope as well.
And I know everyone’s always nervous. So we always do try and relax everyone as best as we can. And just to see it as a learning experience more than anything else, not to see it as like with a to get you, I know it’s a regulatory body. I know it’s really scary but well just, just be honest.
[Jaz]
Well, when you mentioned about the medical emergency drugs, the practice I work at, they’ve got, that should do a really good job. And, the kit that we have for medical emergencies is so nicely labeled. Every single thing is just asthma attack, allergic reaction, it’s all really nicely labeled.
It just shows the level of care and detail that’s gone into it. And on a higher level, I’ve been listening to a book recently, literally on the way into today. I was listening to a book called Surrounded by Idiots. Have you heard it?
[Ruchita]
Oh yeah, I’m reading that right now. I’m literally reading that right now.
[Jaz]
I’m on like chapter eight or something. I don’t know, audio version. Cause I listened to like this one. I’m listening to at 1.7 speed because I want to digest it a bit more. And so to explain to everyone who’s watching, listening at the moment, it’s like the whole disc thing, right? About your personality type.
So if you’re red, you’re like really results orientated, like wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. Let’s go. Whereas if you’re blue, you’re very analytical, you’re slow, you’re slow with a purpose to make sure everything’s quality. So I feel like when, if you’re starting a squat, practicing, looking at hiring. I want my manager to be a blue red combination and have a strong blue so they go everything through a fine tooth comb and be very meticulous, but also red so that they can get the results and actually be very forward in their communication as well. What do you think about that?
[Ruchita]
Yeah, I completely agree. So a lot of the time we can employ a member of our team just on their role. But actually, I really feel about knowing someone’s personality, knowing their strengths and weaknesses. So maybe another team member can kind of gel if someone’s a bit weaker in one point and is like ideal and in terms of like the red and the blue.
I think that’s perfect because the red person’s just going to get everything done to like your timestamps and stuff like that. And then your blue person’s actually going to analyze it, but not just doing it for the sake of doing it. They’re actually going to digest that information. So similar, actually, like in an inspection, what we’d rather have is that someone’s actually understood the reason for doing things.
So not just like as the dentist, I don’t like just seeing an audit done and then it’s done and no one’s reflected on it. There’s no action plan. Like they’ve just done it. Because we’ve asked them to do it, kind of thing. But what I’d actually love for someone to say is, do you know what? 100 percent of our x rays were all acceptable.
That’s amazing, we’re gonna keep going. Or actually one, there was a bad film, we got a new film and we replaced it. Because again, that’s like someone’s actually thinking about the process. And again, it’s more, then your patients are being looked after. So I think that’s really important. And actually quite a good exercise to do in a staff meeting sometimes, maybe seeing what personality everyone is. And then it’d be quite cool.
[Jaz]
Having a team day to do that. I think it’s totally worth it. Right. And I’ll put the link to this book in the show notes. I think it’s really, really good. If you’re a principal, if you’re a manager, I manage a team. So that’s why I got into it. I thought, okay, let me, let me think about the different personalities.
It’s been really eye opening. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, actually. So it’s just thought a random thought that came to my mind. In the interest of time, you’ve covered so many different things in terms of looking for your CQC and you made it, to me seem less daunting, thankfully. And the thing, the main lesson is do a little bit every day.
Don’t just cram it into the end because ultimately all those little things, they count towards patient safety, which is ultimately what it’s all about. Now part of what you mentioned about CPD as well and the importance of getting it done and the important bits, but also some fun bits. CPD should be made fun and appealing as well, because it’s a time, it’s a day you take out of work, right?
Take it and you want to be fulfilled and enjoy an environment that you can enjoy. So with that, please tell us about CPD at the Shard, which you’ve got going on. I saw that recently and you invited me to be a speaker there kindly, but please tell me more about that.
[Ruchita]
Yeah, so that was actually triggered from my role as working in the CQC. Because as I said, one of the common pitfalls was like CPD wasn’t being done like on time, essentially. And also a lot of dentists are really isolated out there, but there’s also a lot of misinformation that goes out. So if you think about with CQC inspections, your version of like what may happen may be different to someone else’s version.
We may look on the Facebook group and someone may share their experience. So I thought, why not do a CPD day where we’ve actually got a lead inspector from CQC who can kind of go through all the myths, all the common errors that we think about kind of thing. And then I thought, what better way to do it than to do it at the Shard.
We’re like the most amazing view over London. Because a lot of the time, I know CPD is just there to kind of tick a box off at times. I know obviously you run events and they always look really good fun, so I feel like this is in line with that. And it’s just a good way to network, to connect, because I find we’re quite, in that era, we’re good at typing behind a laptop and typing behind a screen.
But when it comes to interacting with each other and kind of gelling, I feel like it’s missing. And obviously, we’ve got an amazing lineup of speakers. So Jaz, I’ll let you kind of talk about what you’re going to be talking about. Then I’ll say who the other ones are as well.
[Jaz]
So you asked me for something clinical because I had a look and he had a lot of non clinical stuff. So one thing I’ll be asking you is, is he intended audience as dentist or is it like the team and stuff? So, treating your team in a tactical way, what might be one element of it.
But for me, I’m talking about Resin Bridges Success Protocol. So I’ve got a fair few videos I’ve collected over the last few years to add to the whole lecture based content, but actually to actually make it engaging as possible to make sure you understand the do’s and don’ts of Resin Bonded Bridges and how to actually get those fine few percentages of success.
[Ruchita]
And when I was, because without being weird, I was like looking at all of your work and stuff. And I was like, you kind of make it seem quite simple in a good way. Like, if you follow the right techniques, it shouldn’t actually be a stressful clinical procedure, I like to hope. And it should be quite predictable.
So that was why we were just so lucky to have you there. Because I know that that can stress a lot of clinicians out, especially dentists. And then a couple of the other topics I’ve picked are things that, again, like, when I go to practices, dentists don’t have the best understanding of. So, we’ve got Richard, who’s a perio specialist, who’s going to be talking about the perio guidelines, because a lot of people still call them the new guidelines, and they’ve been around for a little while now, so we just want to cement that into everyone.
Then we’ve got Dipti, who’s going to be talking about managing trauma in dental practice, because we tend to find this, this is a trickier one for general dentists to manage. And then we’ve got Len D’Cruz, who’s going to be talking about complaints handling, just because we know, like, the area that we’re in.
Complaints are kind of just going up and up and up, but actually it’s really good for like practice manager or like dentists and principals just to have a good understanding of how to be, to manage those really well.
[Jaz]
And that’s a mandatory one, right? Complaints handling is a mandatory training that we should be doing.
[Ruchita]
Yes, exactly. Yeah. So that’s why for the CPD cycle, it’s a fun way to do it versus kind of doing it on on the computer and maybe not taking as much in. Same with infection control. I’m going to be honest, I was probably guilty of that person just ticking next back in the day. And now actually, it’s really important to have that understanding.
So we’ve got Tracy, who’s going to be talking about the guidelines, because it’s not just HTM 01-05, there’s 107. There’s all these other ones that people may not be aware of. And then we’ve obviously got Amanda, who’s our CQC lead inspector. So she’s been part of CQC for 10 years. She will have some stories to share, I’m sure.
She’s amazing. She’s so approachable. So she’ll be going through like the common pitfalls that we see. And as a lead inspector, she sees it. a little bit differently to how I see it as the dentist.
[Jaz]
And that’s quite a rare thing, right? To have someone speak on that kind of topic with the CQC, right?
[Ruchita]
Yeah, it’s actually never been done before. So it’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of planning to speak to CQC to get that done. And I don’t think it’s going to be allowed again. I think we’re just lucky that we work as a team together really, really well. And we just know. Yeah, we both have the same ethics, like, we’re never there to, like, catch each other out, so it’s gonna be really good fun.
She’s also got a lot of knowledge about, like, fire safety, because that’s a lot of the time practice principals won’t be aware that actually we’ve got to have all the right checks done and things like that on that side. And same with like legionella checks and things like that. So she’ll give you a lot more inside info on that side.
And then I’ll be kind of covering a bit of information about like social media. So how to grow your practice social media following just to kind of get the right patients in a good way. And just to kind of get known out there because there are so many practices, so many squats. It’s so hard to differentiate one from the other, so I’d love to think that by the end of that CPD day, not only do you get like 7 hours of CPD, but you’ll go away with some clinical knowledge, some CQC knowledge, some social media knowledge, everything you can basically implement straight away when you go to work.
And then also lunch is included, refreshments are included, some good drinks, good view, good people. It’s just going to be amazing. I’m just so excited about it.
[Jaz]
I imagine it’s going to be a fancy lunch, obviously.
[Ruchita]
And fancy refreshments and fancy drinks.
[Jaz]
So it’s nice to add that luxury element into it sometimes because it’s something you have to do. And if you want to treat your staff and stuff, it’s a good thing to do. Friday, 10th of November, the website for it is?
[Ruchita]
So it’s to do with my online coaching address. So it just made it easier. I’ll be honest. So it’s www.trainwithchita.co.uk, but I’m sure we’ll add the link underneath the show notes, and so if you click on there, yeah, then you’ll kind of see a lot more information about it, FAQs, and yeah, it’s gonna be so much fun, and obviously, I’ve not seen you in ages, so it’s gonna be nice to actually see people, versus having chats over Zoom and stuff like that, so it’s just gonna be amazing.
[Jaz]
I’m looking forward to ticking off those mandatory CPD. So thanks for organizing that. Protruserati, if you’d like to come along to have a nice day out in central London, just by next to Guy’s Hospital at the Shard, a nice bit of food and smooths and come and have a little listen to the talks.
It’d be great to see you there. We’ll put the links in the show notes. Chita, thanks for sharing all those gems about CQC inspection, making us feel like you are actually on our side, but then also I’m looking forward to hearing what Amanda has to say on the day in terms of the stories that perhaps can’t be revealed on the World Wide Web.
[Ruchita]
Yes. Agreed. You’ll be shocked, alarmed, and there’s some good ones, basically.
[Jaz]
So very saucy. Thank you so much, Chita.
[Ruchita]
Cool. Such a pleasure. Thank you so much, Jaz.
Jaz’s Outro:
Well, there we have it, guys. Thank you so much for listening all the way to the end. I’ve made it easy for you to find that link basically, for the event on the 10th of November, I’ve done it as protrusive.co.uk/shards, S-H-A-R-D, which is obviously the beautiful building where the course is happening. I’ll be speaking on RBBs, but there’s loads of other topics there, which I kind of need to tick off as well. So I’ll be there, but also to have a nice day out in the shard in central London.
So if you’ve got a team that you want to treat, if you’ve got Fridays off, or you want to be able to take a Friday off to intend important CPD, right? So these are complaints handling, these are something clinical, these are perio guidelines, some really, really hot topics. So if you want to join us, please do. And I look forward to meeting some of you there.
As always, you can get CPD by going to the app either on Android, iOS, or www.protrusive.app. The login actually works everywhere, but as long as you answer a few questions about this episode to test that you actually did listen and watch the whole way through and to test your knowledge and to give feedback, you can get your full certificate as always.
If you find this compliance topic helpful and you’ve got something else in mind for recommendation and if you are watching on YouTube, please type below, or if you’re on the Facebook group, please let us know what you’d like and we’ll try and cover it. Thank you so much and I’ll catch you same time, same place next week.