Updated 25 May 2018
We carried out this inspection to follow up concerns we originally identified during a comprehensive inspection at the practice on 6 September 2017 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions.
At a comprehensive inspection we always ask the following five questions to get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment:
- Is it safe?
- Is it effective?
- Is it caring?
- Is it responsive to people’s needs?
- Is it well-led?
When one or more of the five questions is 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 where improvement was required.
At the previous comprehensive inspection, we found the registered provider was providing safe, effective, caring and responsive care in accordance with relevant regulations. We judged the practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with Regulation 17 and Regulation 19 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 Walton House Practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
During this inspection, we spoke with the practice manager and one of the principal dentists. We checked the premises and viewed a range of paperwork in relation to the management of the practice.
Our findings were:
- The provider had made improvements to address the majority of the shortfalls we found at our previous inspection. The provider must now ensure that all newly implemented improvements are embedded and sustained in the long- term in the practice.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:
- Review the practice’s sharps procedures to ensure compliance with the Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013.
- Review stocks of medicines and the system for identifying and disposing of out-of-date stock.