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Introduction
These standards set out what you can expect from the following dental services:
- any private dental service (including private treatments provided alongside NHS treatment in 'mixed' practices); and
- any primary care NHS dental services (including those provided by community dentists).
'Primary care' refers to the local dental services available directly to patients. Sometimes the care may be provided in your own home.
'Secondary care' refers to hospital or specialist care, where you might be referred from primary care. The standards apply to only private secondary care dental services, not NHS secondary care dental services.
The standards focus on the people who use the services and what they can expect as a result of using them. The standards are addressed to 'you' as the user of the service. This approach recognises the individuality of everyone using the service.
General information about dentistry and advice on how to look after your own oral health is provided at Annex A. Further information about the different types of dental services is provided at Annex B.
These National Standards for Dental Services were developed jointly by the National Care Standards Committee, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, and by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland ( NHSQIS). This document is being published by Scottish Ministers as National Care Standards under section 5(1) of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001.
Background
The systems for setting and monitoring standards are different for private and NHS services. However, most dentists in Scotland offer NHS dental care along with varying amounts of private dentistry. The number of wholly private practices and wholly NHS practices in Scotland is small. It is for this reason that a common set of standards has been developed.
The consultation for the standards was carried out jointly by NHSQIS and the Scottish Executive, with NHSQIS focusing on professionals and service providers and the Executive focusing on service users. The consultation involved:
- issuing the draft standards document to all dentists and dental practices, relevant professional organisations and groups representing service users;
- organising regional open meetings for dentists, with small group discussions; and
- organising a series of focus groups for service users.
The common standards for NHS and private dental services brought together the previous work and the different principles and approaches applied by each body to its work. Further background on the organisations involved in the development of the standards is provided at Annex C.
How the standards will be used
The purpose of the standards is to make sure that you receive high quality care and treatment from your dental service. You can use the standards to help decide which dental service to choose. They also set out the quality of service that you can expect. You can use them when discussing the service, raising concerns, or making a complaint if you are not happy with the service, or if things go wrong.
The standards set out what is expected of the people who provide dental services and will be used to assess the performance of dental services in Scotland. The standards do not deal with issues of availability of NHS dental care in Scotland. Each NHS Board is responsible for providing NHS dental services in its own area.
Monitoring the standards
NHSQIS and the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission) are working together to develop the best way of assessing and monitoring the standards, to meet the needs of all the main stakeholders. By building on and adapting the existing monitoring systems and best practice guidelines, we want to develop a single system of monitoring for all dental services. Stakeholders will be represented in the work to develop this monitoring system. Information on how dental services are currently monitored is provided at Annex D.
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