Updated 10 November 2017
We carried out a follow-up inspection at Dr Louise Southworth - Richmond Terrace on 17 October 2017.
We had undertaken an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on the 25 January 2017 as part of our regulatory functions where a breach of legal requirements was found.
After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach. 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 one of the five questions we ask about services: are the services well led? You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Dr Louise Southworth - Richmond Terrace on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
We revisited Dr Louise Southworth - Richmond Terrace as part of this review and checked whether they now met the legal requirements. We carried out this announced inspection on 17 October 2017 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We planned the inspection to check whether the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who had remote access to a specialist dental adviser.
• Is it well-led?
This question forms the framework for the areas we look at during the inspection.
Our findings were:
Are services well-led?
We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Background
Dr Louise Southworth - Richmond Terrace is in Blackburn and provides NHS and private treatment to adults and children.
The practice is not accessible for people who use wheelchairs. Car parking spaces are available near the practice.
The dental team includes three dentists, eight dental nurses, one dental hygienist and two receptionists. The practice has four treatment rooms.
The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist there. They have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.
During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist and a dental nurse. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm
Our key findings were:
- Improvements had been made to the processes for reducing the risks associated with fire.
- Improvements had been made to the process for ensuring staff had completed training.
- Staff had completed training in safeguarding and the Mental Capacity Act.
- Records relating to service users were now stored securely.
- The recruitment process had been reviewed and all staff now had a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We noted one dentist only had a basic check and the hepatitis B titre levels were not available for another dentist.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:
- Review the practice's recruitment policy and procedures to ensure DBS checks are the correct level.