Archived: White Oak Dental Practice

We carried out this follow up inspection to check that improvements had been made.

We found that the improvements required following our previous inspection had been fully completed and that patients who used the service were protected from the risk of infection because instruments that required decontamination and sterilisation were transported to the decontamination area in lockable rigid "dirty boxes". This ensured that clean and dirty instruments did not come into contact with one another.

We spoke with six patients who told us that they were happy with the service provided. Patients told us they were very satisfied with the practice. They said they never had to wait long for appointments, and in an emergency they had always been seen on the same day. One patient said 'I have always been very happy with this dental practice. Our whole family use the services and they are always accommodating'. We spoke with three children who used the service. One child said 'I have had a problem for about a year and was really worried coming here today, but I am not worried now as the dentist has explained everything to me. I feel great'.

Patients said their treatment plans were always explained and discussed with them, including choices about treatment and costs. Patients said that the practice was always clean, and all the staff were friendly and welcoming.

We found that patients who used the service understood the care and treatment choices available to them. We found that the provider had an effective system to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that patients received.

We were shown how a comprehensive risk assessment is carried out annually by the provider. Two members of the staff had been first aid trained and we saw the certificates for this along with cardio pulmonary resuscitation training (CPR).

There were few patients during our inspection owing to inclement weather conditions. However one patient we spoke with described the cleanliness as 'absolutely fine'. Although people using the service were positive about the cleanliness of the environment during the course of our inspection we identified a number of concerns about cleanliness and infection control within the practice.

People were cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment to an appropriate standard. There were five qualified nurses who were registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) and both the dentists were aware of their five year GDC cycle of verification and were confident that they were on track to achieve this.

We were shown that patients paper records were stored securely in locked cabinets and that digital patient records were protected by passwords.