Tariq Drabu Affair and Media Department Survey

One of the first tasks for the Tariq Drabu affair and media department has been to gain feedback from service users of our specialist services. This has been in the form of a written questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to previous service users of the specialist oral surgery service that has been running at Langley Dental Practice since 2004. The survey focused on three key areas:

1. The patient experience following referral and prior to the initial consultation appointment.
2. The patient experience at consultation.
3. The patient experience at treatment.

In terms of questioning about the experience around the referral and prior to the initial consultation appointment patients were asked if they were happy to see a specialist in oral surgery rather than having treatment at their own dentist. 95% of respondents were happy at seeing a specialist in oral surgery. The remaining 5% were a little bit unclear as to why they had been referred although they did feel that their visit at consultation clarified any misunderstanding. Around 80% of respondents were also happy at being able to book a convenient date and time of appointment. The same 80% were very happy with the management of the booking service which is contracted out to an external booking office run by the local primary care trust. 90% of patients were happy with the time they had to wait for an initial appointment which is a very pleasing result. This particular statistic from the Tariq Drabu affair and media department is an excellent statistic in terms of our ability to deliver high-quality services.
Moving onto the experience at consultation two key questions focused around the time spent at consultation with a specialist and whether the service users had a full understanding of what their treatment involved. 98% of respondents declared themselves either very happy or happy with the time spent a consultation. When I see these figures from the Tariq Drabu affair and media department I am truly thrilled and humbled at such positive feedback. All respondents declared that they had either completely understood or understood to a satisfactory degree what treatment was being proposed and what the likely outcomes and complications were.
In terms of the treatment provided questions focused on aspects of quality, trust, confidentiality and respect and dignity. Again very high marks were received in terms of feedback particularly focusing on the quality and cleanliness of the practice. Respondents commented on the friendly nature of the staff and how they were made to feel relaxed for what were technically quite difficult and possibly stressful procedures.
I am delighted with the results of this survey from the Tariq Drabu affair and media department and welcome the feedback given to us by service users. I hope that this will allow us to push on to improve our services to patients within our locality in the coming months and years ahead.
Further information about the specialist oral surgery services provided can be found at http://www.hmr.nhs.uk/yourlocalnhs.aspx?page=92.

Tariq Drabu a Sad Affair at Belfast Dental School

 A recent widely publicised critical report by the General Dental Council (GDC) has reported on the lack of leadership and serious failings at Belfast School of dentistry at Queens University undergraduate dental course. This is a sad state of affairs at Belfast. The General Dental Council report stated that the school's Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree program was in a "fragile state".

In 2005 the Chief Dental Officer giving evidence to the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons stated that it cost the taxpayer £250000 to train each student dentist. That was seven years ago. If the state of affairs is worse now than it was then this is bad. With that level of investment in a new dental graduate one would expect a degree of proficiency and competency in basic procedures such as dental extractions and routine dental care. T

he GDC report into Belfast dental school highlighted shortcomings in the training program for undergraduates and the need for more specialist teachers. This is a worrying state of affairs. It also highlighted issues around the level of clinical experiences that students were getting in areas such as routine restorative dentistry and oral surgery, again a worrying state of affairs.

I have trained, mentored and lectured to over 500 dentists at postgraduate level in oral surgery over the past decade and over the years that I have been teaching and training dentists in oral surgery I have noticed a decline in standards competence and ability particularly amongst younger graduates. This is a worrying state of affairs because we would all expect our dentists to be able to undertake simple and even slightly complex dental extractions without fear or apprehension. This is not a problem that is specific to Belfast Dental School. All undergraduate dental institutions need to take a closer look at themselves and the experience that they are providing to new graduates in oral surgery.

My recommendation for undergraduate dental teaching would be that no student could graduate unless they had completed a specified number of routine dental extractions and were observed to be competent in the management of those extractions. They would also have to complete a specified number of complex or surgical extractions and be certified as competent in those as well.

As a regulator the General Dental Council needs to step up to the plate and working with dental schools recommend what they feel is a suitable number of procedures that need to be done. They are the guardians of patient safety and must be proactive in dealing with this matter rather than reactive. Rigorous inspections are one aspect of promoting patient safety. However the GDC must do more and be seen to do more in order to promote high standards amongst new dental graduates. They cannot just sit and leave a passive state of affairs. It is a worrying state of affairs when there is a degree of anxiety amongst the profession about the level of ability and competence of new graduates. These concerns are mirrored by the recent GDC report into Belfast University. I would hope that all dental institutions take on board the recommendations of the GDC report and alter their teaching programmes accordingly

 

Tariq Drabu Affair and Media Department

I have today launched the Tariq Drabu affair and media department.
With so many changes in marketing and advertising happening almost on a daily basis it is important that we at the Langley Dental Group stay focused and relevant with our message to our client base. The Tariq Drabu affair and media department will cover not only issues around the Langley Dental Group Limited but also the wider promotion of our specialist services to patients.
The Tariq Drabu affair and media department will look at different aspects of marketing and advertising. It will look at targeted advertising within both local print media and also seek to enhance its online presence. The Tariq Drabu affair and media department will also undertake a strong social networking and Internet marketing campaign in order to promote brand awareness of the Langley Dental Group Limited.
Our practice has been offering specialist dental services to patients for the past eight years. However the creation of the Tariq Drabu affair and media department will enhance awareness amongst local referring practitioners and those who wish to refer from out with our locality.
The creation of the Tariq Drabu affair and media department will consolidate the Langley Dental Group's strong existing presence and take it to new level is in areas that have not been explored before. It will allow us to target our current and future client base more effectively. We look forward to evaluating the results after six months.

Tariq Drabu Affair CQC

You may wondering about the strange affair as to why I have not been blogging recently. Well here is why.

On Monday 22 October am we received a phone call at the practice from a CQC compliance inspector who wanted to come on Wednesday, 24 October am. I pointed out that on Wednesday, 24 October I would be on my regular oral surgery teaching slot at the University of Central Lancashire. I also pointed out the clinical director was on a mentoring course on the same day at the University of Central Lancashire. I also advised that the senior receptionist who had collated all the documentation and the senior cross infection nurse were both on half term holiday that particular week.
He wanted to come on Thursday 25th of October at which I pointed out I (as registered manager) would be on holiday for Eid ul Adha. I explained that I was not being awkward but that this particular week there was a combination of affairs which would have made an inspection somewhat difficult. He was extremely understanding and very pleasant on the phone and therefore agreed to come on Monday, 29 October.Rather than wishing to take any chances I decided to cancel my whole morning of patients off for the inspection. This particular compliance inspector was from Rochdale but he had done a lot of dental practices in the Huddersfield and Wakefield areas. Feedback from other colleagues in the Rochdale area have indicated that they had had female compliance inspectors who had not really done many dental practices. His background was not from social care. His original degree was in pharmaceuticals. He had previously been employed by the Healthcare commission. Therefore his approach was far more sensible and relevant in terms of affairs like mental capacity act and restraint. These were topics that were not really touched. He pointed out that a lot of the CQC compliance inspectors have come from social care backgrounds and therefore they were looking at aspects such as the mental capacity act and vulnerable adults and children. However he also pointed out that many of the other non social care background inspectors were trying to make the inspections more focused towards affairs that a dental practice really should be dealing with on a day-to-day basis.Therefore the outcomes that he was looking at work as follows

Consent
Care and welfare
Cleanliness and infection control
Staffing
Complaints

He pointed out that future inspections of the practice would probably cover other aspects of the outcomes framework.

He was very civilised pleasant and understanding. He arrived at 10 AM and left around 12 PM. Around 75 minutes were spent specifically dealing with affairs around cross infection and cleanliness. This included seeing how we set up in the morning and what the facilities were in the decontamination rooms. He wanted to look at all the audit records in terms of the washer disinfectors and autoclaves, servicing, legionella and wanted to see how we dealt with instruments from start to finish. He indicated that CQC were not really so focussed on HTM0105 affairs but were guided by the Dept of Health Prevention and Control of Infection Document (108 pages long!) when looking at outcomes. I have to say that Sharon my cross infection nurse was absolutely outstanding. She was confident articulate and came across superbly. He did not have a specific tick list of what to go through but did it all from his head and wrote everything down by hand on paper. My senior receptionist Kristy made sure that every single folder and item of paperwork that could possibly be needed was laid down in a logical fashion in the surgery that I was not working in that morning. I am not sure how as an inspector he would remember everything that he had to cover but I guess having done so many practices he pretty much knew what he was looking for. He made it clear that he was not here to catch us out or make life difficult for us but if necessary would give advice and guidance. The main recommendation that he gave us was that Sharon’s role as cross infection nurse lead should be formalised in some written form as part of her job description. I was more than happy to take this on board.

The rest of the inspection was fairly short and really was looking through all the relevant paperwork and evidence that we complied with issues such as consent. He managed to interview a couple of patients. My reception staff were somewhat astounded that this particular Monday morning was one of the quietest they can ever remember. He promised us a draft report within a week and true to his word it was there by Thursday i.e. after three days.

All in all I’m glad it is all over. I will not deny that it was a very stressful week in the run-up to the inspection even though we are a VT training practice and also have BDA Good Practice. It is just that fear and apprehension of “have we got every single item of paperwork that we need together or is there something missing.”

He said that the next round of inspections commences 2013/2014. So you never know if we are really lucky we could get another inspection next year! 

Tariq Drabu
Manchester