Updated 20 February 2019
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.
Previously, we had undertaken a comprehensive inspection on 5 November 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 Marford Road Dental Practice 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 area where improvement was required.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it well-led?
Background
Marford Road Dental Practice is a well-established practice based in Wheathampstead that provides both NHS and private dental treatment to about 9,000 patients. The dental team includes two dentists, a specialist periodontist, a hygienist, a practice manager, three dental nurses and two reception staff. There are three treatment rooms. There is on-site parking for four cars and additional parking opposite the practice.
The practice opens on Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm.
The practice is owned by a partnership 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. The practice has a part-time registered/ compliance manager, who also works at another dental service.
Our findings were:
The provider had made effective improvements in relation to the regulatory breach we found at our previous inspection and was now was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations. These improvements must be sustained in the long-term.