A routine inspection took place on 8 February 2013 which identified that people were not protected from the risk of infection because appropriate guidance had not been followed by the practice. We also found that people may not be cared for by staff who were supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard. Both of these concerns were judged to have had a minor impact on people who used the service.The provider was required to submit a plan detailing the action they were taking to ensure compliance with these standards and the date at which they would be compliant. The provider told us in their plan that they would be compliant with these standards by the 30 May 2013.
At this inspection we found that the provider had taken some measures to meet the requirements which included replacing a carpeted floor covering in a treatment room and providing intravenous (IV) sedation training for nursing staff.
However, we found that the provider did not follow all the infection control guidance laid out in the Health Technical memorandum 01-05 and had not followed the recommendations contained in a Legionella risk assessment which was carried out by an external specialist company in January 2014.
The provider could not provide us with records to confirm they had received regular update training for the management of patients under conscious sedation which indicates they did not follow relevant professional guidance as detailed in 'A guide to maintaining professional standards in conscious sedation for dentistry published by the Dental Teachers Sedation Group'.