Archived: Dr Andre Louw - Minehead

Updated 1 October 2015

We inspected this practice on 25 August 2015. Our inspection team was led by a Care Quality Commission (CQC) lead Inspector who had access to remote advice from a specialist advisor. A second CQC inspector assisted with the inspection.

We informed organisations such as NHS England area team and Healthwatch Somerset that we were inspecting the practice; however we did not receive any information of concern from them. We asked the provider to send us information about their practice and to tell us about the things they did well. We reviewed the information for patients on the practices website and on the NHS Choices website.

We spoke with patients, interviewed staff working in the practice during the inspection. We carried out observations throughout the day of our inspection and reviewed documents the practice produced as part of their quality assurance processes and day to day management of their business.

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 patient’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection. Aspects of the practice we looked at included; how the practice provided person-centred treatment; treated patients with dignity and respect; gained consent; provided safe care and treatment; safeguarding patients from abuse and improper treatment; maintained suitable premises and equipment; how they received and acted on complaints; maintained good governance and supported and recruited staff.

Updated 1 October 2015

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 25 August 2015 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.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had systems and processes in place which ensured patients were protected from abuse and avoidable harm by a skilled staff team.
• Patients’ treatment and support achieved positive outcomes, promoted a good quality dental care and was based on the most recently available guidance and evidence.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Services were organised so that they meet patients’ needs and were flexible enough to accommodate emergency appointments each day.
• The leadership, management and governance of the organisation supported the delivery of high-quality patient centred treatment, supported additional learning and promoted an open and fair culture.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements for example:

• Training for new staff about safeguarding vulnerable adults should be prioritised earlier in their induction training.
• All policies should be dated to evidence clearly the date they were reviewed.

Background

Blenheim Dental Practice provides general NHS dentistry and some private dental services to living in Minehead and the surrounding areas. The practice has patients from a wide rural catchment area surrounding Minehead with some patients travelling long distances to attend appointments. The practice is located on the first and second floors of a terraced property close to the main shopping area, with parking close by. The dental treatment and hygienist rooms are on the first and second floors and there is a separate decontamination room.

The practice has four treatment rooms and a separate dental hygienist area. The practice employs three dentists and is a training practice which supports one foundation trainee dentist. There is also a team of five dental nurses employed by the practice, one of the nurses is a trainee. The dental teams were supported by a practice manager and two receptionists. The practice is open from 8:30am until 5:00 pm Monday to Friday. The practice has their own website which provides information about the opening times and services they provide.

The main 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 spoke with 10 patients who provided feedback about the service during our inspection. We also received comment cards from 16 patients. The patients we spoke with and the comments we received were all positive about the treatment they received. Similarly positive comments were made about the caring nature of all the staff in the practice. Patients commented they felt the dentists took time to explain the required treatment and involved them in their treatment and decision making.