Farnham Road Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 10 January 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

Farnham Road Dental Surgery is a dental practice providing NHS and private treatment for both adults and children. The practice is based in a converted domestic dwelling in Slough, a town situated in Berkshire.

The practice has three dental treatment rooms. Two of which are based on the ground floor and a separate decontamination room used for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments. The ground floor is accessible to wheelchair users, prams and patients with limited mobility.

The practice employs five dentists, three dental nurses, three reception staff of which one also carries out administration tasks for the practice owners.

The practice’s opening hours are 9am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8.45am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 5pm Friday.

There are arrangements in place to ensure patients receive urgent medical assistance when the practice is closed. This is provided by an out-of-hours service.

Dr Arti Sharma is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. 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.

We obtained the views of six patients on the day of our inspection.

Our key findings were:

• We found that the practice ethos was to provide patient centred dental care in a relaxed and friendly environment.
• Leadership was provided by the two practice owners.
• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies.
• Medicines and life-saving equipment were readily available and generally in accordance with current guidelines.
• The practice appeared visibly clean.
• There was appropriate equipment for staff to undertake their duties, and equipment was properly maintained.
• Infection control procedures were effective and the practice followed published guidance.
• The practice had a safeguarding lead with effective processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• There was a process in place for the reporting and shared learning when untoward incidents occurred in the practice.
• Dentists provided dental care in accordance with current professional and National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
• The service was aware of the needs of the local population and took these into account in how the practice was run.
• Patients could access treatment and urgent and emergency care when required.
• Staff we spoke with felt well supported by the practice owners and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Information from 13 completed Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, caring, professional and high quality service.

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

• Review patient information and responses to patient comments on the NHS Choices website.
• Consider providing details of all the dentists working at the practice including their General Dental Council (GDC) registration number in accordance with GDC guidance issued in March 2012 on NHS Choices website.
• Provide an annual statement in relation to infection prevention control required under The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance.
• Review the availability of hearing loops for patients who used hearing aids.
• Consider providing a portable ramp into the practice for patients who use wheel chairs or have mobility difficulties.
• Review the security of the dental compressor in the storage area adjacent to the practice.
• Review the safety arrangements of the window blinds in the practice, this could include either ensuring the pull cords are made secure or carrying out a suitable risk assessment in relation to the pull cords.
• Review the system of pre-employment checks to ensure that a written record of references is obtained for new staff commencing employment at the practice.
• Review stocks of medicines and the system for identifying and disposing of out-of-date stock.
• Review the site of the emergency medicines and equipment to improve the responsiveness in the event of a patient emergency.
• Consider obtaining additional quantities of adrenalin to enable repeated doses to be administered to patients to facilitate an effective recovery.
• Review the general security of the treatment rooms on the first floor to prevent unauthorised access by the public, specifically the decontamination room.
• Consider improving the flooring in the ground floor WC to enable effective cleaning to take place.
• Consider displaying patient information in relation to ‘how to make a complaint’ in a more prominent position.