Dr Jennifer Chin - Christchurch Street

We carried out this announced focused inspection on 14 December 2021 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 Care Quality Commission, (CQC), inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we asked the following questions:

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it well-led?

These questions form the framework for the areas we look at during the inspection.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Dr Jennifer Chin - Christchurch Street is a well-established dental practice that offers private dental care to patients. The dental team consists of a dentist, a dental nurse and a receptionist. Another registered dentist is located at the same premises, and the two dentists share staff, governance procedures and costs.

The premises are accessible to wheelchair users and there is public parking available in a nearby shopping centre.

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.

The practice is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 5pm.

During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist, a dental nurse and the receptionist. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.
• Staff felt respected and supported.
• The practice did not have robust recruitment procedures in place to ensure only suitable staff were employed.
• There were no systems to ensure that the completion of dental care records followed guidance provided by the College of General Dentistry.
• Auditing systems were limited and did not ensure staff were following nationally recommended guidelines and procedures.
• The appointment system took account of patients’ needs.
• Staff treated patients with dignity and respect and took care to protect their privacy and personal information.

We identified regulations the provider was not meeting. They must:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should.

• Improve the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols taking into account the guidelines issued by the Department of Health in the Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices, and having regard to The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections’.

• Implement a system so that patient referrals to other dental or health care professionals are centrally monitored to ensure they are received in a timely manner and not lost.

• Take action to ensure all clinicians are adequately supported by a trained member of the dental team when treating patients in a dental setting taking into account the guidance issued by the General Dental Council.

• Improve and develop staff knowledge of Gillick competency guidelines and ensure all staff are aware of their responsibilities in relation to this.

• Improve systems for seeking and learning from patient feedback with a view to monitoring and improving the quality of the service.

• Review the location of medical emergency equipment and drugs so they can be quickly and easily accessed in the event of an incident.