Archived: Baddow Dental Practice

We carried out the follow up inspection on 18 February 2015. We found that the required improvements to the service had been implemented.

The practice had suitable policies and procedures for obtaining consent from patients prior to commencing treatment. Staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibilities to gain consent from patients.

The practice had suitable policies and procedures for receiving and dealing with complaints. The policy provided detail of how the complaint should be dealt with. Staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibilities in referring complaints to the manager or dealing with it themselves if they felt able to.

We visited the dental practice in August 2014.

We looked at the arrangements for providing suitable, safe and appropriate treatments. Patients' medical histories, including any medicines that they were prescribed was obtained and reviewed at each visit to help ensure that treatment was planned and delivered safely. There were procedures in place for dealing with medical emergencies. Staff had written information to help them identify and treat incidents such as cardiac arrest or allergic reaction. Staff had undertaken training in first aid and dealing with medical emergencies.

We looked at the arrangements for dealing with and responding to complaints and concerns. Improvements were required to ensure that complaints and concerns were fully investigated and responded to appropriately. Responses to complaints did not always address all of the concerns raised by the complainant. There were no arrangements for reviewing complaints to identify any trends. Complaints and concerns were not discussed so as to learn from these and improve patients experience of using the service.

As a result of reviewing patients' notes we found that improvements were required in how patient's consent to examinations and treatment. The arrangements for obtaining parental consent were not clear or understood by staff. Written consent was not routinely obtained.

We saw processes in place for managing the prevention and control of infection and evidence of effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection within the service.

We found evidence that staff had received regular training and appropriate pre employment checks had been carried out.

People we spoke with were happy with the practice and did not have any concerns or issues about the care they received. We saw evidence that the practice had complaints policies and procedures in place.