Park Road North Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 5 September 2016 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

Park Road North Dental Practice is located in a residential suburb of Birkenhead and comprises a reception and waiting room and two treatment rooms on the ground floor, and three treatment rooms on the first floor. Parking is available on nearby streets. The practice is accessible to patients with disabilities, impaired mobility, and to wheelchair users.

The practice provides general dental treatment to patients on an NHS or privately funded basis. The opening times are Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5.30pm and Friday 8.00am to 4.00pm. The practice is staffed by two principal dentists, two practice managers, five associate dentists, a dental therapist, nine dental nurses, of whom two are trainees. The dental nurses have joint nursing / reception roles. The practice also supports two recently qualified dentists in their next stage of training.

One of the partners is the registered manager. 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.

We received feedback from 43 people during the inspection about the services provided. Patients commented that they found all aspects of the practice excellent, and that staff were professional, attentive, friendly, and caring. They said that they were always given good and helpful explanations about dental treatment, and that the clinicians listened carefully to their needs. Patients commented that the practice was clean and comfortable. Several patients commented that the staff act above and beyond the call of duty.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had procedures in place to record, analyse and learn from significant events and incidents.
• Staff had received safeguarding training, and knew the process to follow to raise concerns.
• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified and skilled staff to meet the needs of patients.
• Staff had been trained to deal with medical emergencies, and emergency medicines and equipment were available.
• The premises and equipment were clean, secure and well maintained.
• Patients’ needs were assessed, and care and treatment were delivered, in accordance with current legislation, standards, and guidance.
• Patients received information about their care, proposed treatment, costs, benefits, and risks and were involved in making decisions about it.
• Staff were supported to deliver effective care, and opportunities for training and learning were available.
• Patients were treated with kindness, dignity, and respect, and their confidentiality was maintained.
• The appointment system met the needs of patients, and emergency appointments were available.
• Services were planned and delivered to meet the needs of patients and the local community. Staff made to adjustments to enable all patients to receive their care and treatment.
• The practice gathered the views of patients and took their views into account.
• Staff were supervised, felt involved, and worked as a team.
• Governance arrangements were in place for the smooth running of the practice, and for the delivery of high quality person centred care.
• Staff followed current infection control guidelines for decontaminating and sterilising instruments but some of the recommended testing was not being carried out on the cleaning and sterilising equipment.

We identified the practice did the following which had a positive impact on patient experience and health outcomes.

• The practice demonstrated a long-standing commitment to improving access to dental care and improving oral health for people living in vulnerable circumstances and had set up an outreach service. Dentists from the practice visited local hostels and rehabilitation centres and carried out oral hygiene instruction, screening, and treatments to reduce decay for the residents. Residents were signposted to the provider’s practice for regular dental treatment and residents in dental pain were offered an appointment at the practice within 24 hours.
• There was a practice team approach to improving the oral health of the local population. The provider identified that the decay rate in the local population is high and this increased the risk of poor oral health for some people. The provider planned a number of initiatives targeting children, to promote good oral health outcomes from an early stage. Staff from the practice visited nurseries and pre-schools to provide oral hygiene instruction and diet advice to children and arranged fun days in the adjacent park in school holidays.

We believe this to be notable practice worth sharing as it demonstrates involvement with the local community and other organisations in planning services and making sure people’s needs are met.

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

• Review the security of prescription pads in the practice.
• Review the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols having due regard to guidelines issued by the Department of Health - Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices and The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance, specifically in relation to the recommended testing of the cleaning and sterilising equipment and the security of the decontamination room.