back chat: Ann-Marie Elwood

摘要

I work in a large dental practice in Nottingham that provides NHS and private dental care to around 10,000 patients. Like businesses in every other industry, dental practices have their own systems of governance. For us it is clinical governance and we are required to have a quality assurance (QA) system. However, while all practices have this system in place, considerable variation exists in the extent to which these systems effectively promote quality, rather than simply satisfying a requirement. There's a range of reasons for this, but evidence shows that for once, size really does matter and many of the smaller practices just don't have sufficient capacity to develop and maintain the level of commitment required. Larger practices provide an opportunity to foster a culture of quality, supported by the training and development of the whole team and a basis for continuous improvement. Other factors also play a part - some misunderstand the concept of clinical governance and believe that it only applies to what happens in the treatment room.