Polscy Lekarze Dental Service

Updated 5 January 2017

We undertook a follow up inspection of Polscy Lekarze Dental Service on 11 November 2016. This inspection was carried out to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the practice after our comprehensive inspection in July 2015 had been made. We inspected the practice against three of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe, is the service effective and is this service well-led. This is because the service was not meeting some of the legal requirements in relation to these questions.

The inspection was carried out by a CQC assistant inspector who had access to advice from a specialist dental advisor.

Before carrying out the follow up inspection, we reviewed information sent to us by the practice that told us how the concerns identified during the comprehensive inspection had been addressed.

Updated 5 January 2017

We carried out a follow up inspection on 11 November 2016 of Polscy Lekarze Dental Service.

We had undertaken an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 14 July 2015 as part of our regulatory functions and during this inspection we found breaches of the legal requirements.

After the comprehensive inspection, we asked the practice to provide us with an action plan to explain what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. We checked whether they had followed their action plan to confirm that they now met the legal requirements.

We reviewed the practice against three of the five questions we ask about services:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it well-led?

We have not revisited Polscy Lekarze Dental Service as part of this review because the practice was able to demonstrate that they were meeting the requirements without the need for a visit.

A copy of the report from our last comprehensive inspection can be found by selecting the 'all reports' link for Polscy Lekarze Dental Service on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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 well-led ?

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

Background

The practice provides a range of dental treatments on a private basis. Approximately 95% of patients who use the service are Polish speaking. There is one dentist at the practice supported by a trainee dental nurse and the provider, who takes the role of receptionist and administrative support.

The practice offers appointments between 9.30am and 9pm every weekday and offers an emergency service at weekends. The practice owner, dentist and trainee nurse attend the practice when an appointment is booked, providing a ‘drop in’ service.

The 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.

Our key findings were:

• Audits were carried out every six months to assess the risks of cross infection in line with HTM 01 05 (national guidance for infection prevention and control in dental practices) Essential Quality Requirements for infection control.
• Staff received training in basic life support; and an automated external defibrillator (AED) was available in the practice.
• Dental care records contained details of all examinations undertaken.
• Medical history questionnaires included a section for patients to disclose any medicines taken.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Ensure a Legionella risk assessment is carried out by a competent person.
• Include in their clinical record keeping audit a section to reflect that oral health advice offered to patients is recorded in patients’ dental care records.