Updated 6 February 2024
We undertook a follow up focused inspection of Finchley Dental Care Centre on 5 January 2024. This inspection was carried out to review 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 who was supported by a specialist dental advisor.
We had previously undertaken a comprehensive inspection of Finchley Dental Care Centre on 24 March 2023 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.
An announced focused inspection was carried out on 16 August 2023 to review the actions taken by the provider in response to our findings of 24 March 2023. At this follow up inspection we found that while some improvements had been made, the provider was still not providing well-led care and remained 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 Finchley Dental Care Centre dental practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
When 1 or more of the 5 questions are not met we require the service to make improvements and send us an action plan. We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the area(s) where improvement was required.
As part of this inspection we asked:
- Is it well-led?
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 24 March 2023 and 16 August 2023.
Background
Finchley Dental Care Centre is in Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet and provides NHS and private dental care and treatment for adults and children.
The practice is on the first and second floor of a high street building and is not accessible for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. The practice has processes in place to communicate this to patients prior to their appointments. Car parking spaces are available near the practice.
The dental team includes the principal dentist, 1 associate dentist, 2 dental nurses and 3 dental hygienists. The practice has 2 treatment rooms.
During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist and one of the dental nurses. We looked at practice policies, procedures and other records to assess how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday from 9am to 5.30pm
Tuesday from 10am to 2pm
Wednesday from 9am to 4pm
Thursday from 10am to 5.30pm
Friday from 9am to 5.30pm.