Updated 10 April 2020
We undertook a follow up desk-based inspection of Wednesfield Dental Practice on 10 March 2020. 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.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of Wednesfield Dental Practice on 9 July 2019 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 and was in breach of regulation 17 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 Wednesfield Dental Practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it well-led?
When one or more of the five questions are not met we require the service to make improvements and send us an action plan (requirement notice only). We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the area(s) where improvement was required.
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 breach we found at our inspection on 9 July 2019.
Background
Wednesfield Dental Practice is in Wolverhampton and provides NHS and private treatment for adults and children.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces are available immediately outside the practice in their own car park, but there are no designated spaces for blue badge holders.
The dental team includes five dentists, seven dental nurses (two of whom are trainee dental nurses), one receptionist and a compliance manager. There is also an area manager who oversees all management and compliance. The practice has three treatment rooms and a separate room for carrying out decontamination.
The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist there. They have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.
During the inspection, we looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday to Friday: 9am to 5pm
Saturday/Sunday/Bank holidays: 9am to 12pm (emergencies only).
Our key findings were:
- Improvements had been made in the practice’s systems for completed audits, training and recruitment.
- Improvements had been made in the management of medical emergencies.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:
- Implement an effective system for receiving and responding to patient safety alerts, recalls and rapid response reports issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Central Alerting System and other relevant bodies, such as Public Health England. This had improved since our previous visit but the alerts were not being checked daily.