The Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 16 November 2015 to ask the practice the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

The Dental Practice (Polygon) has three dentists and four dental nurses. All of the dentists and dental nurses are qualified and registered with the General Dental Council (GDC). The practice’s opening hours are 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday.

The Dental Practice (Polygon) is a dental practice providing mainly NHS and some private treatment and caters for both adults and children. The practice is situated in a converted residential property. The practice had three dental treatment rooms. Decontamination for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments is carried out within each treatment room. There is a reception and waiting areas on both floors. One of the dental treatment rooms were on the ground floor enabling access for patients who found stairs difficult.

The Dental Practice (Polygon) was purchased by its current owners in April 2015. The practice owner is the registered manager who practices at a separate location but rarely visits the practice. However a business manager supports the practice manager and visits regularly. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run. Supporting the Registered Manager is a practice manager and a business support manager.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission comment cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. We collected eight completed cards and spoke to ten patients. These provided a positive view of the services the practice provides. All of the patients commented that the quality of care was good.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 16 November 2015 as part of our planned inspection of all dental practices. The inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a lead inspector, a second inspector and a dental specialist adviser.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had an empowered practice manager who administered the clinical governance systems and processes within the practice.
• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• The practice was visibly clean and well maintained.
• Infection control procedures were robust and the practice followed published guidance.
• The practice had effective safeguarding processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these which the practice used for shared learning.
• The practice had enough staff to deliver the service.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).
• Staff we spoke to felt well supported by the practice manager and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Information from eight completed CQC comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, caring and professional service.
• All complaints were dealt with in an open and transparent way by the practice manager responsible for administration if a mistake had been made.

There were areas also where the provider could make improvements and it should:

• Re-establish the audit process for dental radiography so that it is undertaken at least on an annual basis.
• Information for patients wishing to make a complaint should be readily available in all waiting areas.
• Complete the programme of staff appraisals.
• Establish a staff meeting frequency cycle.
• Ensure recruitment arrangements include all necessary employment checks for all staff.