Townley Dental Centre

We undertook a focused inspection of Townley Dental Centre on 27 September 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.

We had undertaken a comprehensive inspection 19 February 2019 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 or well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations 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 Townley Dental Centre on our website www.cqc.org.uk.

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 areas where improvement was required.

As part of this inspection we asked:

• Is it safe
• Is it well-led

Background

Our findings were:

• We found this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

• We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Background

Townley Dental Care is based in Upwell and offers private treatment to about 1,500 patients. The dental team is small, consisting of one dentist, two dental nurses and a receptionist. There is one treatment room. The practice is sited within the local health centre and shares some of its facilities.

There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs and a car park with specific spaces for patients with limited mobility.

The practice opens Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8am to 5pm; on Wednesdays from 8.30am to 4pm, and on Fridays from 8am to 12 noon.

The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist there. He has legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.

On the day of inspection, we collected 24 CQC comment cards filled in by patients and spoke with another thee patients.

During the inspection we spoke with the dentist, both nurses and the receptionist. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

Key findings

The provider had made sufficient improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we found at our previous inspection. These must now be embedded in the practice and sustained in the long-term.

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

• Review testing procedures for the practice’s ultrasonic bath and ensure regular foil and protein residue checks are completed.

We carried out this announced inspection on 19 February 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 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 this practice was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Townley Dental Care is based in Upwell and offers private treatment to about 1500 patients. The dental team is small, consisting of one dentist, two dental nurses and receptionist. There is one treatment room. The practice is sited within the local health centre and shares some of its facilities.

There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs and a car park with specific spaces for patients with limited mobility.

The practice opens Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8am to 5pm; on Wednesdays from 8.30am to 4pm, and on Fridays from 8am to 12 noon.

The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist there. He has legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.

On the day of inspection, we collected 24 CQC comment cards filled in by patients and spoke with another thee patients.

During the inspection we spoke with the dentist, both nurses and the receptionist. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

Our key findings were:

• Staff treated patients with dignity and respect, and we received many positive comments from patients about the caring and empathetic nature of the dentist and nurses.

• There were suitable safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.

• Patients’ complaints were dealt with positively and efficiently.
• Staff felt involved and supported and worked well as a team
• Recruitment procedures were not robust
• Dental care records were not maintained in line with guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice regarding clinical examinations and record keeping.
• Medicines were not managed or prescribed according to national guidance.
• Some of the practice’s infection control procedures did not comply with national guidance
• Systems to ensure good governance were limited.

We identified regulations the provider was not meeting. He must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

Full details of the regulations the provider was not meeting are at the end of this report.