Updated 31 December 2018
We undertook a focused inspection of Little London Dental Care on 14 December 2018. This inspection was carried out to review in detail the actions taken by the registered provider to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was supported remotely by a specialist dental adviser.
We had undertaken a comprehensive inspection of Little London Dental Care on 05 and 08 July 2018 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We found the registered provider was not providing well led care in accordance with the relevant regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can read our report of that inspection by selecting the 'all reports' link for Little London Dental Care on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
When one or more of the five questions are not met we require the service to make improvements and send us an action plan. We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the areas where improvement was required.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it well-led?
Our findings were:
Are services well-led?
We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we had found at our previous inspections on 05 and 08 July 2018.
Background
Little London Dental Care is in Chichester, West Sussex and provides NHS and private treatment to adults and children.
The practice is accessed via several steps and is situated over three floors. Car parking spaces for blue badge holders are available near the practice which is within a short walk of car parks.
The dental team includes three associate dentists, one dental hygienist, one qualified dental nurse, two trainee dental nurses, four receptionists and a practice manager who is also a qualified dental nurse. The practice has four operational treatment rooms.
The practice is owned by a company and as a condition of registration must have a person registered with the Care Quality Commission as the registered manager. Registered managers have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run. At the time of the inspection the practice manager was applying to be the registered manager and this application was underway.
During the inspection we spoke with the two dentists, two trainee dental nurses, three receptionists and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
- Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Saturday from 9am to 1pm (one Saturday a month by appointment only)
Our key findings were:
- The practice was providing care and treatment in a safe way to patients
- The practice had implemented effective systems and processes to ensure good governance which can be sustained in the longer term, in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
- The practice had implemented systems to ensure that persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out the duties.
- The practice had implemented recruitment procedures to ensure that these were operated effectively and that only fit and proper persons were employed.
- The practice had ensured that specified information was available regarding each person employed.
- The practice had reviewed the practice's protocol and staff awareness of their responsibilities in relation to the Duty of Candour to ensure compliance with The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
- The practice had reviewed staff awareness of the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and ensured that all staff are aware of their responsibilities under the Act as it relates to their role.
- The practice had reviewed staff awareness of Gillick competency and ensured all staff are aware of their responsibilities in relation to this.
- The practice had implemented an effective system to monitor and track referrals to ensure that these are dealt with promptly.