Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

practice manager or a senior member of staff, you can apply through the Care Quality Com- mission. As for the rest of your dental care providers you have to go through a well established umbrella company to apply for Enhanced CRBs on their behalf as they cannot do it themselves. You have got to be certain that you are using a reputable company and that the disclo- sure will be done thoroughly, with all the relevant disclo- sures required on the forms to be made clear as checked. If you are an NHS practice you can call your PCT and they can inform you of the umbrella company that they use as you would be reassured they are reputable and that the fee will be fair. You could also use a recommend company from a reputable source as I have done. You can go onto the Home Office web site homeoffice.gov. uk/crb and search umbrella company and it will bring up a list of recommended umbrel- la companies which are best to use. It is much less complicat- ed and simple to apply for E CRBs for general dental prac- titioners and providers as op- posed to proprietors and per- sonnel in senior roles. Step by step all you need to do is: 1Only a registered CQC manager can call the umbrella company as they have had an Enhanced CRB carried out al- ready therefore you have clear- ance. You will be the person who validates identification of the applicant – hence no post office. 2You need to have your En- hanced CRB number at hand as they will ask you for this 3Once you have called the umbrella company they will send you out an informa- tion pack as well as the appli- cation forms that you have ap- plied for. Make sure that you carry out an audit beforehand so that you apply for the correct amount of forms to avoid delays due to errors and to make sure you collect the correct fees if your associates/hygienist are paying for their own CRBs to be done 4The umbrella company will apply for your CRB checks through the Criminal Records Bureau. 5 The application takes approximately six weeks al- though some are going through within three weeks. 6The applicant will receive their Enhanced CRB to their home address therefore they will have to bring a copy to the practice so it can be kept on file. • In relation to point six this will depend on the umbrella company’s policy. The Crimi- nal Records Bureau sends the E CRBs back to the umbrella company who in turn then send them off to the applicant as well as to the employer. This is the policy of Anagram peo- ple who we have elected to use. Each umbrella company will have their own protocol so it would be good to follow this up with them. As long as you have an application in the process CQC won’t place conditions on your practice however if you don’t have records of application they may take action agai- nst you. Having to go through the whole process of becoming complaint with the CQC has been a bit of a challenge and really time consuming, but at the end of it I really can under- stand why the government have chosen to do this. Dentistry is all about patient care and at the end of the day we all want what is best for our families and for our patients. I decided from the start to embrace the changes and I have said this to all our staff from the beginning you cannot fight change it makes it all the more difficult to adjust when you resist. I don’t understand all the politics behind the aggravation although I have listened to the opinions of those around me and can understand the frus- tration that is being felt and the costs that are being uncured due to the process that we have to go to, to become compliant. However, CQC is not going to go away, so as the English say ‘Be calm and carry on! ‘ As Winston Churchill once said: “We have no right to ask when sorrow comes. The dif- ficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter.” DT Becoming compliant can seem like a challenging mountain to climb ‘Dentistry is all about patient care and at the end of the day we all want what is best for our families and for our patients’ ‘Only a registered CQC manager can call the um- brella company as they have had an Enhanced CRB carried out already therefore you have clearance’ About the author Originally from South Africa, Sha- ron Holmes has worked in the field of dental practice management since 1992. In 2003, she moved to London City Dental Prac- tice where after 18 months, was re- sponsible for man- aging four practices in the group. The London City Dental Practice is now part of a mini co-operative group called the Dental Arts Studio, of which she has been instrumental in its creation. 17Practice ManagementJune 6-12, 2011United Kingdom Edition