Quango in row with dentists over record checks backs down

Mike Waites Health Correspondent

BUREAUCRATS at an under-fire quango have backed down in a row with dentists over new criminal record checks.

Furious dentists had attacked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) over plans to force hundreds in Yorkshire to travel to a single post office in Leeds to apply in person for mandatory checks under a new licensing regime.

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Nationwide, dentists had a choice of only 27 crown post offices, leaving some in Yorkshire with round trips of as much as 150 miles.

Dental leaders had described the arrangements as “shambolic” and branded the CQC a “quango gone mad”.

Now officials have agreed that dentists can take their paperwork to another 73 post offices across the country to get enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks as part of a new registration process.

Dentists will be able to go to post offices in Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Ossett, near Wakefield, Scarborough, Sheffield and York.

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Scarborough dentist John Renshaw, a former chairman of the British Dental Association, said: “I think it’s a victory for common sense.

“It’s been a struggle but if they’d done it the right way in the first place this wouldn’t have happened.”

He warned of further problems involving the registration process for dentists, who must obtain new licences to operate under a new regulatory system coming into force in April, unless the CQC modified its overly-bureaucratic approach.

A CQC spokesman said the majority of dentists would not need to obtain new CRB disclosures to register with them.

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But it had been decided to increase the number of post offices where the process could be completed “making it more convenient for providers”.

The spokesman added: “From 1 November, 73 additional offices will ensure a wider network is available to cope with the demand for this mandatory check.

“We are constantly reviewing the service and will continue to work with the Post Office to increase the number of offices that offer this service.”