Updated 7 July 2017
Background
Cathay Dental Practice is located in Reading and provides private treatment to patients of all ages. The premises are on the ground floor and consist of a treatment rooms, a decontamination area and a reception area. The practice is open on Monday to Friday 8:00am – 4:30pm.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and pushchairs. Car parking spaces are available near the practice.
The dental team includes two principal dentists, a dental nurse and a receptionist.
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 registered manager at Cathay Dental Practice was one of the principal dentists.
On the day of inspection we collected seven CQC comment cards filled in by patients. We also reviewed results of the patient feedback the practice received online. This information gave us a positive view of the practice.
During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist, a dental nurse and the receptionist. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
Our key findings were:
- The practice was clean and well maintained.
- The practice had effective safeguarding processes in place and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and child protection.
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned in line with current guidance such as from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
- We found the dentists regularly assessed each patient’s gum health and took X-rays at appropriate intervals.
- Patients were involved in their care and treatment planning so they could make informed decisions.
- The practice had systems to help them manage risk.
- The practice had thorough staff recruitment procedures.
- Staff treated patients with dignity and respect and took care to protect their privacy and personal information.
- The appointment system met patients’ needs.
- The practice asked staff and patients for feedback about the services they provided.
- The practice dealt with complaints positively and efficiently.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:
- Review the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols giving 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.
- Review the practice’s arrangements for receiving and responding to patient safety alerts, recalls and rapid response reports issued from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and through the Central Alerting System (CAS), as well as from other relevant bodies such as, Public Health England (PHE).
- Review its audit protocols to document learning points that are shared with all relevant staff and ensure that the resulting improvements can be demonstrated as part of the audit process.
- Review the practice’s protocols for recording in the patients’ dental care records or elsewhere the reason for taking the X-ray and quality of the X-ray giving due regard to the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) 2000.