Updated 7 May 2020
We undertook a follow up desk-based inspection of 20 April 2020. 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 undertaken by a CQC inspector as desk-based review.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of North Road Dental Surgery on 25 June 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 well led care and was in breach of regulations 17 and 18 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 North Road Dental Surgery on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• 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 areas where improvement was required.
Our findings were:
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 20 April 2020.
Background
Ewan Bramley Dental Care is in North Shields and provides private treatment to adults and children.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces are available near the practice.
The dental team includes a principal dentist, four associate dentists, two visiting dentists, nine dental nurses (two of whom are trainees), two healthcare assistants, three dental hygienists, a practice manager, a clinic manager and a receptionist. Two of the dental nurses also perform reception duties. The practice has four treatment rooms, with two hygiene bays being in one of the rooms.
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 Ewan Bramley Dental Care is the principal dentist.
The practice is open:
Monday - Thursday: 8am to 8pm
Friday: 8am to 3pm
Saturday: 9am to 3pm.
Our key findings were:
- Systems had improved to help manage risks. These included risks associated with gas and fire safety and hazardous substances.
- Improvements had been made to the processes and management of staff recruitment ensuring al required checks were in place.
- Improvements had been made to the recording of staff training in safeguarding and overall monitoring of staff development training.
- Systems had been implemented to improve overall management and governance systems.
- Awareness of safety incidents had been increased and learning from events shared at team meetings.
- Audits were now in place for the cone beam computed tomography machine X-rays and safety checks.