So Dental

Updated 26 January 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The inspection was carried out on 3 January 2017 by a CQC inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser. During the inspection, we spoke with the dentist, both dental nurses and the receptionist. We reviewed policies, procedures and other documents relating to the management of the service. We received feedback from 24 patients about the quality of the service, which included comment cards and patients we spoke with during our inspection.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

Is it safe?

Is it effective?

Is it caring?

Is it responsive to people’s needs?

Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 26 January 2017

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 3 January 2017 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

So Dental is a well-established dental practice in the centre of Chatteris. It provides privately funded dental treatment to adults and children. The team consists of one dentist (who owns the practice), two dental therapists, two dental nurses, and a receptionist. The current owner took over the practice in April 2016. The practice is situated in a converted residential property and has two dental treatment rooms. There is a large patient waiting area and reception area, and staff room.

It opens from 9am to 5.30pm from Mondays to Thursdays, and by appointment on a Friday and Saturday.

Our key findings were:

• Information from 22 completed Care Quality Commission comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, professional and high quality service.

• The practice had systems to help ensure patient safety. These included safeguarding children and adults from abuse, maintaining the required standards of infection prevention and control, and responding to medical emergencies.

• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these that the practice used for shared learning.

• Risk assessment was robust and action was taken to protect staff and patients.

• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified and competent staff. Members of the dental team were up-to-date with their continuing professional development and supported to meet the requirements of their professional registration.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other published guidance.

• Staff felt well supported and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.

• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted upon.

• The practice had a rolling programme of audit in place, which was used to improve the service.