Archived: Beaconsfield Dental Practice

Updated 6 August 2015

We inspected Beaconsfield Dental Practice on 18 June 2015. The inspection was a comprehensive inspection. The practice had been inspected before in 2011 and no concerns were identified at that time. The inspection was carried out by a CQC Inspector and a Specialist Dental Nurse Advisor.

We contacted NHS England area team and Healthwatch Buckinghamshire regarding our inspection of the practice. We did not receive any information of concern from them.

During our inspection we looked at the practice premises to see whether they were accessible to patients and kept clean and tidy. We reviewed documents relating to the management of the practice and observed patients as they arrived for their appointments. We spoke with four patients and reviewed the comments from 22 patients who completed CQC comment cards in the two weeks prior to the inspection. We also spoke with the dentist, the associate dentist and four members of staff.

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 6 August 2015

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on Thursday 18 June 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.

Beaconsfield Dental Practice provides a wide range of dental treatments on a private basis for patients of all ages. A small contract for the provision of NHS dental care to patients under the age of 18 is in place. The practice was open from 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday each week with appointments available from 8:30am to 1pm and from 2pm to 4:45 pm. The provider, Mr Peter Roger Collins shared the practice facilities with another dentist who was separately registered with CQC. Staff and facilities were shared and patients could register with either of the dentists.

Mr Peter Collins is registered as an individual and has legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run.

We spoke with four patients and reviewed 22 comment cards completed in the two weeks prior to our inspection. All of the comments we received from patients were positive. Patients told us they were pleased with the service they received and were given information they understood in regards to their treatment and treatment options. They also told us that the dentist and staff were professional, polite and helpful and they were treated with respect, care and compassion.

Our key findings were:

• Patients we spoke with and those who completed comment cards told us they were treated with care and staff were professional and friendly. We observed positive interaction between staff and patients during the inspection.
• Patients were able to access both routine and emergency appointments and there were clear instructions on how to access out of hours emergency dental treatment.
• Staff were supported in receiving training appropriate to their role and to keep up to date with developments and best practice in dental care.
• Care and treatment was based on thorough examinations and patients told us they understood their care and treatment and received treatment plans upon which to base their decisions to proceed with or decline treatment.

There was an area where the provider could make improvements and they should:

• Ensure materials used for treatments that are rarely undertaken are checked and are within expiry date.