CQC Oral Health Compliance

In order to comply with CQC requirements and to meet the NICE recommendations I have been asked, by several care managers, to provide oral care policies, oral care needs assessment documents, personalised oral care plans and paperwork, training for staff on how to achieve these or to assess the oral health needs of residents and create individual oral care plans for each resident.

The CQC Report ‘Smiling Matters: oral health care in care homes’ was published in June 2019 and states;

“It reveals that three years on from the publication of NICE guidance on oral health in care homes, steps are often not being taken to ensure that people get the oral health care they need to ensure that they are pain-free and that their dignity is respected.

Key findings include:

The majority (52%) of care homes visited had no policy to promote and protect people’s oral health
Nearly half (47%) of care homes were not providing any staff training to support people’s daily oral healthcare
73% of residents’ care plans we reviewed only partly covered or did not cover oral health at all – homes looking after people with dementia being the most likely to have no plan in place.
17% of care homes said they did not assess people’s oral health on admission”

I offer all this information, on an independent basis, as unfortunately the NHS does not commission such services and training.

Some questions to consider;

Do you have an Oral Care Policy for your home, that includes appropriate oral needs assessments and oral disease prevention measures?

Have you introduced mandatory oral care and hygiene training for all your carers?

Has each resident (permanent, temporary and respite) had an initial assessment of their oral health needs as detailed in the NICE guidelines, when they have first become a resident?
- Do you have an appropriate tool to assess and record initial oral health needs, that a non-dental professional can easily understand and use?
- Has an appropriately trained person carried out the oral needs’ assessment?

Does each resident have a regular reassessment of their oral needs to ensure that as their situation changes the assessment reflects their current oral health needs which change over time?

Does each resident have an individual oral care detailed in their daily care plan that is specific to their oral health needs?

Do you have appropriate information to provide to those who purchase oral hygiene items for the residents to ensure they allow the individual care plan to be fulfilled properly?

Toothbrushes
Toothpastes
Interdental brushes
Dental floss or tape
Mouth moisturisers
Artificial saliva
Mc3 Cleansers (for end of life care)
Denture pots

Do record provision of oral care on a twice daily frequency in an easily understandable way?

I can help you ensure that you are providing appropriate oral care support to your residents in compliance with the CQC requirements and NICE guidelines.

I offer different levels of support, depending on your requirements.

I will create a pack of documents for you to tailor to your facility, that will meet all requirements. You can then action these within your care home.

I also offer greater support by coming to your care home and put my oral care pack into action specifically tailored for your facility. I will train staff to assess oral health needs of residents using tools that I will provide, to empower them to assess residents’ oral health needs appropriately, giving them information to create individual care plans for each resident and how to reassess regularly to ensure that they always meet the oral needs of the resident.

I offer further increased support by coming to your care home and put my oral care pack into action specifically tailored for your facility; I will also assess your residents’ oral health needs and create bespoke oral care plans for each individual. I can then update these with further visits for re-assessment when you feel the resident’s situation has changed to ensure the oral health needs of the resident are always met.

I offer an interactive training session for carers which will raise awareness of the importance of daily mouth care as well as practical advice for those people that are dependent or need assistance in oral care techniques.

It will provide carers with the knowledge and ability to deliver daily mouth care within care homes. (Please contact for further details.)

I offer all these services, on an independent basis, as unfortunately the NHS does not commission such services and training.

The costs per basic oral care pack, for the care home to make specific to their facility, are fixed. £58

The cost of making the oral care pack specific to your facility will be fixed (per each facility). Appropriate information will need to be supplied by the facility. £58 + £50

The cost of training staff to use the assessment tools and create oral care plans is fixed. The oral assessment tool, individual dental care plan, oral reassessment tool and daily recording templates will be supplied. (This can be with one individual to train them to train others; or with groups of up to 12; training is interactive and will take 90 minutes) £150 per session

The assessment of each resident’s oral health needs and creation of bespoke oral care plans for each individual is costed per each visit to the care home and per resident assessed. The oral assessment tool, individual dental care plan, oral reassessment tool and daily recording templates will be supplied. (This is not a full clinical dental examination, however when possible I will view in the resident’s mouth, I will recommend if a full clinical dental examination is required.) £65 per each visit + £22 per resident.

Further visits for re-assessment when you feel the resident’s situation has changed to ensure the oral health needs of the resident are always met, is costed per each visit to the care home and per resident assessed. (This is not a full clinical dental examination, however when possible I will view in the resident’s mouth, I will recommend if a full clinical dental examination is required.) £65 per each visit + £22 per resident.

The interactive training session for carers which will raise awareness of the importance of daily mouth care as well as practical advice for those people that are dependent or need assistance in oral care techniques, is a 2-hour session for a maximum of 12 people. £174

Please don’t hesitate to contact me for any further information.

Please get in touch to request my services to support you to meet your residents’ oral care needs and to meet the CQC requirements and the NICE guidelines for care homes and domiciliary care providers.

With warmest wishes,

Yours Sincerely,

Dr Cara Ball

For your information I have detailed some references below to the CQC requirements and reports and the NICE guidelines that apply to oral care in care homes and in domiciliary personal care provision.

CQC Report; Smiling matters: oral health care in care homes

https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/major-report/smiling-matters-oral-health-care-care-homes

https://www.cqc.org.uk/news/releases/cqc-calls-improvements-oral-health-care-homes

CQC Requirements and Standards

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/adult-social-care

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/independent-healthcare-services

NICE Guidelines Oral Health in Care Homes

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs151

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng48

https://www.nice.org.uk/about/nice-communities/social-care/quick-guides/improving-oral-health-for-adults-in-care-homes

https://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/oral-health-for-adults-in-care-homes

https://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/oral-and-dental-health