Dentist Monica Symes, right, in
her Lyme Regis surgery Photo:
APEX
Dentists
have been told to throw away old magazines from their waiting room for fear of
breaching health and safety rules.
It
is a well-established part of a every trip to the dentist – leafing through a
dog-eared copy of a glossy magazine while awaiting your turn in the chair. But this familiar ritual is now under threat
after NHS officials issued a warning to dentists to stop keeping back issues of
periodicals in their waiting room, because they are a health and safety risk. They believe that the magazines could be
responsible for helping to spread bacteria and should be thrown out after just
a week.
One
of those to receive the new advice was Monica Symes, who runs a dental practice
in Lyme Regis, Dorset. She was visited by an NHS infection control worker who
criticised the age of the magazines available in her waiting room and warned
that they could lead to her failing an inspection by the Care Quality
Commission, the NHS regulator. The
dentist, 65, who has practised for more than 30 years, said: "I was told
that I ought not to have any magazines out that are more than a week old,
because the Care Quality Commission wouldn't like it. "Mostly the magazines aren't very old, I
subscribe to Country Life and Private Eye and bring them in when I've finished
them, and then there are other ones like Gardeners' World and Heat, which staff
and patients bring in. I can't believe they would pose any risk to
patients."
Although
some of the magazines were older – with Miss Symes admitting that one copy of
Gardeners' World dated from 2004 – she said patients had never complained about
stumbling on an old publication. "Generally
we try to keep up-to-date," she said, "but plenty of old magazines
are quite interesting and quite often patients will ask if I mind if they take
one away".
Miss
Symes said the "infection control facilitator", employed by Dorset
Primary Care Trust, also said that to meet the requirements of CQC, the dentist
must stop using Blu-Tack, because it created a "cross infection"
risk, if reused, and should have all the cushions in the waiting room
reupholstered. Since last April, all dentists have been required to register
with the CQC, which can inspect their facilities and check they are maintaining
treatment standards. However, surgeries
and dental organisations have complained that the bureaucracy has bogged them
down in red tape, and done little to improve care of patients. Already, inspectors have taken an interest in
the magazines on offer in waiting rooms as part of their checks.
In
May, a report by CQC on Lydiate Dental Surgery in Merseyside, which failed
standards on safety and cleanliness, noted: "People we spoke to commented
that the waiting area had been cleaned recently and all the old magazines had
been removed." Before the current
rules came in, 350 dentists wrote to The Daily Telegraph to complain that CQC
inspections would be "duplicatory and wasteful". Under the regime, dental practices are
required to explain how they are "meeting the nutritional needs" of
their patients – the same question routinely put to hospitals, which provide
meals for patients – as well as respecting their human rights and protecting
them from abuse. Each surgery is also required to set out a "statement of
purpose" about what they want to achieve.
Dentists
are already regulated by the General Dental Council, which can strike them off
if they botch cases, or treat patients badly.
Dr
John Milne, Chairman of the British Dental Association's general dental
practice committee, said dentists took cleanliness and hygiene very seriously,
but suggested it was heavy-handed to wage war on magazines. He said: "Providing magazines in waiting
rooms for patients to read is a good way of helping them to relax and can ease
the concerns of anxious individuals. Blu-Tack is often used to display posters
that reinforce positive oral health messages or advise patients about the care
that the practice provides." "Too
often, in recent years, it has felt like regulation has been designed to
hinder, rather than support, dentists' efforts to care for their
patients."
A
spokesman for Dorset PCT said the current advice to dental practice owners is
that patient waiting areas should be kept clear of unnecessary clutter to
facilitate regular effective cleaning. He
added: "There is no specific requirement for practices to remove magazines
within a specified time period; however, practice owners, as part of a cleaning
schedule, should ensure that magazines are in good condition and free from
obvious contamination. This advice will be kept under review and may be
modified in the event of any future community infection outbreaks." He said there was no record of advice being
provided on the specific use of Blu-Tack and said there was no requirement to
cease its use.
A
spokesman for CQC said the regulator had never ordered dentists surgeries to
remove any magazines, nor set any rules about using Blu Tack. He added: "The only time these things
would be an issue would be if we found they were being used in such a way as to
compromise the safety of someone using the service – and it's pretty hard to
see what those circumstances might be." He said the comments about magazines in the
report on Lydiate Dental Surgery were reports of what patients had said, and
that there were many other reasons why the provider failed to meet standards on
cleanliness and safety.
Telegraph UK
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