Bedford Dental Practice

Updated 18 February 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The inspection was carried out on 12 January 2016. The inspection was led by a CQC inspector and a dental specialist advisor

We informed NHS England area team that we were inspecting the practice; however we did not receive any information of concern from them.

During our inspection we interviewed members of staff regarding their practise, policies and procedures. We spoke with people using the service and their relatives, observed the workings of the practice and reviewed their documentation.

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 18 February 2016

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 12 January 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

Bedford Dental Practice is a general dental practice situated in the Riverfield area of Bedford. It provides treatment under the NHS or privately, and as well as a full range of general dentistry also offers tooth whitening and short-term orthodontics (a term used to describe quick orthodontic treatments that usually only affect the front teeth. These types of systems can use transparent trays instead of conventional braces to effect simple tooth movements).

The practice is situated on the ground floor of a purpose built building with a car park and disabled access.

The principal dentist 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.

We received feedback on the service from 13 patients, either by way of them filling in a CQC comment card or in person. They were overwhelmingly positive about the service offered, and made particular reference to the friendliness of the whole team, and how they were made to feel at ease by the staff.

Our key findings were:

• Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of how to raise a safeguarding concern, and the situation in which that may be required.

• Essential standards in decontamination as outlined in the ‘Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 (HTM 01-05): Decontamination in primary care dental practices.’ published by the Department of Health were being exceeded.

• The provider had emergency medicines in line with the British National Formulary (BNF) guidance for medical emergencies in dental practice.

• The practice had monthly team meetings to discuss the running of the practice, any complaints and learning opportunities.

• Governance arrangements were in place for the smooth running for the practice, including the use of clinical audit to highlight areas that could be improved.

• The practice kept comprehensive dental care records and regularly audited the quality of the records to ensure that they were suitably detailed.

• Feedback from patients described the practice as friendly and caring. Several patients commented on how well the staff dealt with the challenges of treating young children.

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

• Review availability of equipment to manage medical emergencies giving due regard to guidelines issued by the Resuscitation Council (UK), and the General Dental Council (GDC) standards for the dental team.

• Review staff awareness of the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 and ensure all staff are aware of their responsibilities under the Act as it relates to their role.

• Consider more robust scheduling of particular cleaning tasks in the practice to ensure that all aspects are being carried out appropriately.