Since 1st April 2011 it has been obligatory for the providers of dental services, together with their registered managers (where applicable), to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in order to be able to provide regulated activities, legally.
Regulated activities are set out in the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and, for dentistry, include:-
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury;
- Surgical procedures; and
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
Providers should have applied for registration between November 2010 and 31st March 2011. However, the government realised that it might not be possible for the CQC to register all relevant providers by 1st April 2011. As a result, legislation was introduced to deal with the transitional period (The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Primary Dental Services, Private Ambulance Services and Primary Medical Services) (Regulated Activities) (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) Order 2010).
Ordinarily, it is a criminal offence to provide a regulated activity without the appropriate registration. However, the effect of the transitional order is that the legislation which makes this a criminal offence, will not apply to providers who have submitted a complete application for registration before the relevant deadline, and who are still waiting to be registered after 1st April 2011. Providers who have not yet registered, or who provided incomplete applications for registration will not have the protection of the transitional provisions.
Recently it has been announced that the CQC has started to contact these practices with a view to registering them. If you are one of these practices, it is important to co-operate with the CQC in order to ensure that you are registered as quickly as possible. If you continue to provide regulated activities without being registered you will be committing a criminal offence, and could be prosecuted. If convicted, the magistrates court has the power to fine a provider a sum up to £50,000. In addition, you could be ordered to pay the prosecution's legal costs.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.