Quality of Health Auditof

Dental Services

Hi we are Jessica Bromley and Richard Johnson and we are both Quality Auditors with Changing our Lives.

Earlier this year Sandwell Primary Care Trust asked us to carry out audits of dental services from the perspective of people with learning disabilities.

To audit the dental services we used the Quality of Health Principles.

The Quality of Health Principles

The Quality of Health Principles are intended to ensure that people who are ‘vulnerable’ have a good quality patient experience whilst using health services.

We are defining people who may be ‘vulnerable’ as people with disabilities, people with mental health issues and older people.

A group of experienced Quality of Life Auditors with disabilities from Changing Our Lives have developed these good practice areas.

In order to ensure we include all ‘vulnerable’ groups, they have worked with agencies representing older people, people with physical disabilities, people with sensory impairments and people with mental health issues.

The Health Principles cover the following areas:

Accessible Communication

InformationChoiceAdmission

Staying in Hospital

Discharge

Appointments

Treatment

The way health professionals work with me

Accessible Environment

Privacy and Dignity

Respect

Medication

Complaints

To audit the Dental Services we looked at the following

areas:

Information

Accessible Environment

The way health professionals work with me

Appointments

Accessible Communication

Where we audited

We audited two dental surgeries, one was a high street dentist and one was a specialist service.

How we did it

The audits were led by us and we were supported by staff from Changing our Lives.

First we visited the surgery to have a look around and look at the information they had.

We then made a second visit and interviewed the Dentists.

This is what we found

Information

Both dentists had some good information but it was not accessible.

The dentists did not send out easy read appointment letters.

Accessible Environment

The specialist dentist was all on one floor so was easy for people in wheelchairs to access.

The reception area had lots of space.

One of the treatment rooms had a ceiling hoist so people with physical disabilities can be treated there.

The high street dentist did not have any disabled access but we were told that they offer home visits to people who cannot get into the surgery.

The rooms were big enough for a persons support worker or carer to sit in with them.

The way health professionals work with me

We found that both surgeries do some oral health promotion although the specialist service do more work with care providers and carers.

The specialist dentist knew what the annual health check was and felt that they needed to be involved more with these.

The specialist dentist had started asking people to bring their health action plans to appointments with them.

The high street dentist did not know about annual health checks or health action plans.

Appointments

The specialist dentist are able to give people as much time as they need for their appointment.

People using the high street dentist can choose the time of their appointment.

Both surgeries encouraged people to go and look around before their appointment to make them feel more comfortable.

Accessible Communication

The staff in the high street dentist had not received any training in accessible communication.

The staff in the specialist dentist had received makaton training.

Both dentists worked with the persons family or support worker to communicate with them.

Both dentists said they would use interpreters if necessary.

We made the following recommendations

• All information to be easy read.• Appointment letters to use easy words and

pictures.• Training for all staff on how to work with

people with learning disabilities. • Training for all staff on communication

methods.

Any Questions?