Museum Square Dental Centre

Updated 21 March 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The inspection was carried out on 1 March 2017 by a CQC inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser. During the inspection, we spoke with the dentist, the practice manager, a dental nurse and the receptionist. We reviewed policies, procedures and other documents relating to the management of the service. We received feedback from 24 patients about the quality of the service, which included comment cards and patients we spoke with during our inspection.

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 21 March 2017

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 March 2017 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

Background

Smile Dental Health Care is a well-established dental practice that provides private dental treatment only. The practice is part of Oasis Dental Care Limited, and one of 28 practices in the region. The team consists of three dentists, five dental nurses, three part-time hygienists, a practice manager and a receptionist. The practice is situated in a converted grade two listed residential property and has five treatment rooms, a reception/waiting area and staff and administrative rooms. It opens from 8am to 7pm on Mondays to Thursdays, and Fridays from 8am to 1.30pm.

The practice manager is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as the registered manager. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run.

Our key findings were:

• Information from 24 completed Care Quality Commission comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, professional and caring service. Patients particularly appreciated the early morning and evening opening times.

• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these which the practice used for shared learning.

• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.

• The premises were visibly clean and well maintained. There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection within the practice and legionella risk was managed well.

• Members of the dental team were up-to-date with their continuing professional development and supported to meet the requirements of their professional registration.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other published guidance.

• The practice had in place a comprehensive system of policies, procedures and risk assessments covering all aspects of clinical governance in dental practice. Staff told us they enjoyed their work and felt very valued and supported by the practice manager.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Consider providing the hygienist with the support of an appropriately trained member of the dental team.