In 2012, the Australian Dental Association (ADA) began the Introductory Dental Practice Accreditation program. This voluntary program was intended to distinguish dental practices that were meeting the high quality standards established by the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. The initial accreditation period is only two years to help establish a tight baseline of practice that dental offices can maintain.
As one of the first practices to achieve this level of accreditation, My Hills Dentist is proud to announce that we are the absolute first practice in New South Wales and the ACT to achieve re-accreditation, demonstrating our continued commitment to quality dental care.
Everyone Is Committed to Quality
The re-accreditation process is challenging. In order to be meaningful, the process has to be rigorous and detailed in its documentation. We had to demonstrate that our practice was still following the high standards of care that allowed us to earn accreditation from Quality Innovation Performance (QIP), the independent auditing practice that oversees accreditation. In addition, we had to provide additional data related to the NSQHS Standards, such as ensuring the proper calibration of our sterilizing autoclave, and documenting that procedure.
The leader of our re-accreditation effort was Ms. Taylor Duff, who came up with the strategy of dividing up the work involved among all the staff members. This not only kept the workload from being overwhelming for anyone, it also helped engage everyone in the process, reaffirming our commitment to quality care in each individual staff member. And since everyone was supposed to have an updated job description filed, this allowed each team member to critically appraise their job and make sure it matched their abilities and inclinations.
The pre-filing process took five weeks, following a precise sequence of steps laid out for us by the ADA NSW.
Although we had the option of being certified for four years, we opted for only a three year accreditation. That shorter time period will help us ensure that we are always up to standard and never allow our commitment to quality to decline.
Are You Looking for a Safe Dentist in Sydney?
Recent health scares have highlighted the need for high standards in dental safety, and many of our patients have shared with us their concerns about former dental practices. The accreditation program gives us the ability to help patients understand that not all dental practices are equal when it comes to safety procedures.
If you are looking for a dentist in Sydney who has repeatedly achieved this high standard of safety, please call (02) 9686 7375 for an appointment at My Hills Dentist in Baulkham Hills.
