Updated 17 December 2019
We undertook a follow up inspection of Bath Spa Dentistry on 1 November 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.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of Bath Spa Dentistry on 8 May 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 regulation 17 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 Bath Spa Dentistry dental practice 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 area 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 8 May 2019.
Background
Bath Spa Dentistry is in Bath and provides private treatment for adults and children.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including for blue badge holders, are available near the practice.
The dental team includes three dentists, one lead dental nurse, four dental nurses, one dental hygienist, one dental hygiene therapist, one practice manager and one business manager. The practice has three treatment 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 Bath Spa Dentistry is the principal dentist. A registered manager is legally responsible for the delivery of services for which the practice is registered.
During the inspection we spoke with one dentist, one lead dental nurse, three dental nurses and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday 8.45am to 5.15pm
Tuesday 8.45am to 6.15pm
Wednesday 8.00am to 5.15pm
Thursday 8.45am to 5.15pm
Friday 8.15am to 2.15pm
Our key findings were:
- Improvements had been made to the availability of X- ray information.
- Improvements had been made to the administration and testing of the Dental Cone Beam (Computed Tomography) device.
- Improvements had been made to the management and use of safer sharps.
- Improvements had been made to the infection control procedures.
- Improvements had been made to the potential risk of legionella in the practice by implementing the recommendations in the legionella risk assessment.
- improvements had been made to the safe storage of medicines.
- Improvements had been made to the auditing processes.
- Improvements had been made to the storage of waste materials.
- Improvements had been made to the staff appraisal process.
- Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were now available.