Updated 29 January 2018
We carried out a follow-up inspection at Lowton Dental Centre on 1 December 2017.
We had undertaken an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on the 27 July 2017 as part of our regulatory functions where a breach of legal requirements was found.
After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. We checked whether they had followed their action plan to confirm that they now met the legal requirements.
We reviewed the practice against one of the five questions we ask about services: are the services well led? You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Lowton Dental Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We revisited Lowton Dental Centre as part of this review and checked whether they now met the legal requirements. We carried out this announced inspection on 1 December 2017 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We planned the inspection to check whether the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations.
We reviewed the practice against oneof the five questions we ask about services: is the service well-led?
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who had remote access to a specialist dental adviser.
Our findings were:
Are services well-led?
We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Background
Lowton Dental Centre is in Lowton, Cheshire and provides NHS and private treatment to adults and children. The practice is also contracted to provide NHS orthodontic treatment.
A portable ramp is available for people who use wheelchairs and pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including for patients with disabled badges, are available near the practice.
The dental team includes three dentists, four dental nurses (three of which are trainees), a dental hygienist, two dental hygiene therapists, an orthodontic therapist and a receptionist. The practice has five treatment rooms.
The practice is owned by a company 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 Lowton Dental Centre was the principal dentist.
During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday 9.00 - 13.00 14.00 - 17.45
Tuesday 9.00 - 13.00 14.00 - 17.45
Wednesday 9.00 - 13.00 14.00 - 17.45
Thursday 9.00 - 13.00 14.00 - 19.30
Friday 8.00 - 13.00
Our key findings were:
- An effective system was now in place for staff to report incidents and significant events.
- A system for the control of Legionella was now in place.
- Policies, procedures and the systems to help them manage risk had been reviewed.
- Dental care records were now stored securely.
- Improvements had been made to the practice’s quality assurance processes.
- The practice had reviewed their procedures for closed-circuit television (CCTV).