Archived: MLB Dentysta Limited

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection visiting the practice on 26 May 2015 and again on 30 May 2015.

The dentist, who is the registered provider, is the only person currently working at the practice and she complete all tasks. A dental nurse and receptionist are employed at the practice but they are both off work for an extended period due to sickness and maternity leave.

The practice provides primary dental services to private patients only and is open Monday to Saturday excluding Thursday. There is a mixture of appointments available both during the day and evening.

We viewed CQC comment cards that had been left for patients to complete prior to our visit about the services provided. There were 30 completed comment cards and all of them reflected positive comments about the dentist and the services provided. Patients commented that the practice was clean and hygienic, they found it easy to book an appointment and they found the quality of the dentistry to be excellent. They said explanations were clear and that the dentist was kind, caring and reassuring.

We found that this practice was providing effective, caring and responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations. However we found that this practice was not providing safe and well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We took action to protect patients and ensure the provider was complying with all the regulations. We have since seen evidence that the dentist is providing safe and well led services in addition to them being effective, caring and responsive.

Our key findings were:

• The dentist had received safeguarding and whistleblowing training and knew the processes to follow to raise any concerns.
• The dentist had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were readily available. Patients' care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with evidence based guidelines, best practice and current legislation.
• Patients received clear explanations about their proposed treatment, costs, benefits and risks. They were involved in making decisions about it.
• The appointment system met the needs of patients and waiting times were kept to a minimum.
• The practice sought feedback from patients about the services they provided.
• There were insufficient staff appropriately qualified at the practice to keep patients safe and recognised best practice was not being followed.
• Patient records were not being stored securely.
• There was no contract in place for the disposal of hazardous waste during the initial inspection but this had been put in place before our second visit.

On our inspection we identified regulations that were not being met and the provider was required to:

• Employ sufficient staff members to ensure patient safety and there must be a minimum of two members of staff on the premises at all times patients are waiting or being treated.

• Ensure a robust system of appraisal is in place to demonstrate staff current competencies.
• Write a policy to cover the circumstances that staff are absent with short notice and how patients will be protected in these circumstances.
• Ensure appropriate measures are taken to protect patient records in terms of their handling and security when being stored.
• Contract a supplier to dispose of hazardous waste.