Quality standard
Quality statement 3: Oral health in care plans
Quality statement 3: Oral health in care plans
Quality statement
Health and social care services include oral health in care plans of people who are receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health.
Rationale
Oral health is a key part of a person's overall health and wellbeing. Including oral health in care plans for people receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health helps ensure that relevant needs are addressed. This may include day-to-day support to help people maintain good oral hygiene and referring to dental services if needed.
Quality measures
The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.
Structure
Evidence of local arrangements to include oral health in the care plans of people receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health.
Data source: Local data collection.
Process
Proportion of care plans that include oral health for people receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health.
Numerator – number in the denominator that include oral health.
Denominator – number of care plans for people receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health.
Data source: Local data collection.
What the quality statement means for different audiences
Service providers (health and social care providers) ensure that systems are in place so that oral health is included in care plans of people who are receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health.
Health and social care practitioners (such as GPs, nurses, care workers and social workers) ensure that they include oral health when developing care plans for people at high risk of poor oral health.
Commissioners (clinical commissioning groups and local authorities) ensure that service specifications need oral health to be included in care plans for people who are receiving health or social care support and at high risk of poor oral health.
People receiving health or social care support who are at high risk of poor oral health have oral health considerations included in the written plan of the care they agree with professionals.
Source guidance
Oral health: local authorities and partners. NICE guideline PH55 (2014), recommendation 8
Definitions of terms used in this quality statement
High risk of poor oral health
Groups of people at high risk of poor oral health should be identified using information from the oral health needs assessment.
People living in areas that are described as socially and economically disadvantaged are often at high risk of poor oral health. Local authorities (and other agencies) define disadvantaged areas in a variety of ways. An example is the government's English indices of multiple deprivation. This combines economic, social and housing indicators to produce a single deprivation score.
Health and social care services may prioritise other population groups at high risk of poor oral health, such as looked-after children, people who misuse drugs, people with severe mental illness, frail elderly people, some ethnic groups, and people with physical, mental or medical disabilities. [Adapted from NICE's guideline on oral health: local authorities and partners, glossary, recommendations 3 and 4 and expert opinion]