Updated 14 March 2019
We undertook a focused inspection of St. Mary Street Dental Practice on 13 February 2019. This inspection was carried out to review in detail the actions taken by the registered provider to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of St. Mary Street Dental Practice on 22 June 2018 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We found the registered provider was not providing safe and well led care and was in breach of regulations 12 (Safe Care and Treatment), 17 (Good Governance) and 19 (Fit and proper persons employed) 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 St. Mary Street Dental Practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it safe?
• Is it well-led?
When one or more of the five questions are 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.
Our findings were:
Are services safe?
We found this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we found at our inspection on 22 June 2018.
Are services well-led?
We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we found at our inspection on 22 June 2018.
Background
St. Mary Street Dental Practice is in Chippenham, Wiltshire and provides private treatment for adults and children.
The dental team includes the dentist, one dental nurse, a receptionist and a practice manager. The practice has one treatment room.
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 St. Mary Street Dental Practice is the practice manager.
During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist, the dental nurse, the receptionist and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open: Monday to Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm.
Our key findings were:
- The practice was providing care and treatment in a safe way to patients.
- The practice had implemented effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
- The practice had implemented a system to ensure recruitment procedures are established and operated effectively to ensure only fit and proper persons are employed.
- The practice ensured that all relevant information is available in respect of each person employed.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:
- Review staff training to manage medical emergencies taking into account the guidelines issued by the Resuscitation Council (UK) and the General Dental Council.
- Review the practice’s protocols for ensuring that all clinical staff have adequate immunity for vaccine preventable infectious diseases.
- Review the training, learning and development needs of individual staff members at appropriate intervals and ensure an effective process is established for the on-going assessment, supervision and appraisal of all staff.