#practice accreditation

First Dental Practice in NSW achieves Introductory Dental Practice Accreditation The dental practice known as “The Dentist at 70 Pitt Street” located in Sydney is owned by Dr Catherine-Anne Walsh and carries the distinction of being NSW’s first ever dental practice to be awarded Introductory Dental Practice Accreditation. To achieve this title, Dr Walsh and the team at “The Dentist at 70 Pitt Street” have had to demonstrate commitment to providing a recognised level of safety in practice and quality in care for the community. Accreditation of the practice was achieved by submitting evidence which was independently assessed by Quality in Practice (QIP) against the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. The decision to participate in accreditation was a business one, says Dr Walsh. “After purchasing the practice 5 months ago I was quick to realise business management skills, in addition to dentistry were required.” The accreditation process assisted Dr Walsh to adapt existing practice systems, procedures and protocols in line with the new national NSQHS Standards and provided the flexibility to allow her to clearly define “how things are to be done and why.” This has been a valuable tool which has streamlined taking over an existing practice. “The obvious business improvement since undertaking accreditation has been in the area of transparency.” says Dr Walsh. “There is accountability now.” The practice has adopted policies and improved processes which can be monitored now that staff are trained to follow them. As a business owner, Dr Walsh has found that it can be effective to enforce a higher power to achieve desired goals. “It’s not me who requires this policy to be followed, it’s the Health Commission” noted Dr Walsh. This opens up a channel for communication and enables a process of looking closely at a system breakdown rather than blaming a person when things do not proceed in an ideal way. Dr Walsh reflects the biggest obstacle to achieving accreditation was finding the time to compile the evidence required by QIP. “I found it was best for one person to just sit down and do it.” Completing most of the evidence herself, she also engaged her staff to compile elements of the evidence for her. This method involved the team, recognising the value of their contributions while still allowing Dr Walsh to have the final say in determining which tools would be utilised to run the business operating systems. When asked what advice she could provide for those practices curently going through Introductory Dental Practice Accreditation, she was quick to identify the experience and assistance which is readily available for dentists who are ADA members... “Don’t put it off. Simply get started and ask for help from your staff and ADA NSW Branch staff". Dr Walsh explained the importance of re-evaluating systems and policies in the future to check they were operating effectively and developed in-line with practice management decisions and the ongoing operative vision for patient care. “There is little point in going through the motions of creating these policies if they are going to be forgotten about. It is going to take 12 months of 6 monthly monitoring and evaluations to ensure that accreditation has been customised to suit the needs of our practice.” Achieving independent recognition of safety and quality processes for “The Dentist at 70 Pitt Street” is a proud achievement for Dr Walsh and her team. “The ability to formalise and improve existing systems has cleared ambiguity within the team and created meaningful checklists based on the NSQHS Standards,” said Dr Walsh. “Introductory Dental Practice Accreditation has been a great tool for the whole team to evaluate what we each need to do and why".