M R Richards Dental Surgery

Updated 5 August 2016

We carried out an announced, comprehensive inspection on 8 July 2016. Our inspection was carried out by a lead inspector and a dental specialist adviser.

During our inspection visit, we reviewed policy documents and staff training and recruitment records. We spoke with three members of staff.

We conducted a tour of the practice and looked at the storage arrangements for emergency medicines and equipment. We were shown the decontamination procedures for dental instruments and the computer system for maintaining patient dental care records. We reviewed CQC comment cards completed by patients and obtained the view of patients on the day of our inspection.

Patients gave positive feedback about their experience at the practice.

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 5 August 2016

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 8 July 2016 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

M R Richards Dental surgery is a dental practice providing NHS and private treatment for both adults and children. The practice is situated in Shanklin, a town on the Isle of Wight.

The practice has one dental treatment room in use and a separate decontamination room used for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments.

The practice is based in an adapted commercial property.

The practice employs one dentist, one dental nurse who also acts as a receptionist and a practice manager who also shares reception duties.

The practice’s opening hours are between 8am and 4pm on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 1pm and 6pm on Wednesday and 8am and 12pm on 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.

The practice owner is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

During our inspection we reviewed 11 CQC comment cards completed by patients and obtained the views of five 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.

• Effective leadership was provided by the practice owner.

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

• The practice appeared clean and equipment was maintained in accordance with current guidelines

• Infection control procedures followed published guidance.

• The practice manager acted as the 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.

• The dentist 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 received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD) by the practice owner.

• Staff we spoke with felt well supported by the practice owner and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.

• Information from 11 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 the availability of a hearing loop for patients who are hearing aid users.
• Review the practice's protocols for completion of dental records giving due regard to guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice regarding clinical examinations and record keeping.
• Review the practice’s protocols for the use of rubber dam for root canal treatment giving due regard to guidelines issued by the British Endodontic Society