Archived: Dr Andre Louw - Bridgwater Also known as Taunton Road Dental Practice

Updated 3 September 2015

We inspected this practice on 28 July 2015. Our inspection team was led by a CQC Lead Inspector who had access to remote advice from a specialist advisor.

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.

We spoke with people who used the service, interviewed staff working in the practice during the inspection and carried out observations and reviews of documents.

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 people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 3 September 2015

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 28 July 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.

Taunton Road Dental Practice provides general NHS dentistry and some private dental services to people living in Bridgewater and the surrounding areas. The practice has about 6000 patients from a wide catchment area surrounding Bridgewater with some patients travelling long distances to attend appointments. There is easy access into the practice with parking outside and close by. The dental treatment and hygienist rooms are on the first and second floors and there is a separate decontamination room on the ground floor.

The practice has four treatment rooms with five dentists including a foundation dentist; four dental nurses and a trainee dental nurse and a dental hygienist who works part-time. The dental teams were supported by two part time practice managers and two receptionists. The practice is open from 8:30 am until 5:00 pm Monday to Friday. The practice have 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.

Eight patients provided feedback about the service during our inspection. We also received comment cards from 48 patients. The patients we spoke with and the comments we received were very positive about the treatment patients received and about the caring nature of all the staff in the practice. Patients stated they felt the dentists took time to explain the required treatment and explained their options in a way they understood. Common themes were that patients felt they received excellent treatment and were provided with personal and professional services.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had systems and processes in place which ensured patients were protected from abuse and avoidable harm.
• Patients’ care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes, promoted a good quality of life and was based on the best available evidence.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Services were organised so that they meet patients’ needs.
• The leadership, management and governance of the organisation assured the delivery of high-quality, patient centred treatment and care, supported learning and innovation, and promoted an open and fair culture.