Bodmin Dental Care

We carried out this announced inspection on 21 May 2019 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. The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was supported by a second CQC inspector and a specialist dental adviser.

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 form the framework for the areas we look at during the inspection.

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

Bodmin Dental Care is in Bodmin and provides NHS and private treatment to adults and children.

There is a step to negotiate to access the practice. Once inside there is a ground floor surgery. Car parking spaces, including spaces for blue badge holders, are available near the practice.

The dental team includes three dentists, three trainee dental nurses, one dental hygienist, one receptionist, one receptionist/trainee dental nurse and a practice manager (who is also a trained dental nurse). The practice has four 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 Bodmin Dental Care is the practice manager.

On the day of inspection, we collected 17 CQC comment cards filled in by patients and spoke with three other patients. This gave us a positive view of the practice. However, some comments were made by patients of a perceived high turnover of dental practitioners and long waits for treatments.

During the inspection we spoke with one dentist, one trainee dental nurse, one hygienist, one receptionist, one receptionist/trainee dental nurse, the practice manager, two area managers and the provider. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

• The practice is open: Monday to Thursday 8.30am – 5.00pm
• Friday: 8.30am – 4.00pm
• The practice is closed between 1pm and 2pm (Mon – Thurs), and between 1.30pm and 2pm (Fri), for lunch.

Our key findings were:

• The provider had suitable safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.
• Staff treated patients with dignity and respect and took care to protect their privacy and personal information.
• The provider had effective leadership and culture of improvement.
• The provider dealt with patient complaints positively.
• Staff knew how to deal with emergencies.
• The provider had suitable information governance arrangements.
• Improvements have been made to ensure staff follow infection control procedures, which reflect published guidance.
• Improvements have been made to ensure thorough staff recruitment procedures.
• The practice had systems to help them manage risk to patients and staff.
• The appointment system took account of patients’ needs. The provider acknowledged that there had been some staffing capacity challenges recently.
• The provider asked staff and patients for feedback about the services they provided.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:

• Review the practice's protocols for completion of dental care records taking into account the guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice.
• Review the practice's protocols for patient assessments and ensure they are in compliance with current legislation and take into account relevant nationally recognised evidence-based guidance.
• Review the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols, taking into account the guidelines issued by the Department of Health in the Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices, and having regard to The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance.’
• Review the practice’s system for recording, investigating and reviewing incidents or significant events with a view to preventing further occurrences and ensuring that improvements are made as a result.
• Review the practice’s audit protocols to ensure audits of patient record cards and antimicrobial prescribing are undertaken at regular intervals to improve the quality of the service. Practice should also ensure that, where appropriate, audits have documented learning points and the resulting improvements can be demonstrated.