Updated 20 February 2024
We undertook a follow up focused inspection of Crescent Dental Practice on 23 November 2023. This inspection was carried out to review the actions taken by the registered provider to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements.
We carried out this announced focussed inspection under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was supported by a specialist dental advisor.
- We had previously undertaken a comprehensive inspection of Crescent Dental Practice on 13 September 2019 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions.
- We found the registered provider was not providing safe or well-led care and was in breach of regulations 9, 12, 13 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
- We conducted further follow up focused inspections on 2 September 2021 and December 2022 where we found continued breaches of regulations 12 and 17.
You can read our report of that inspection by selecting the 'all reports' link for Crescent Dental Practice dental practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
When 1 or more of the 5 questions are not met we require the service to make improvements and send us an action plan. We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the areas where improvement was required.
As part of this inspection, we asked:
- Is it safe?
- Is it well-led?
Our findings were:
Are services safe?
We found this practice was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made insufficient improvements to put right the shortfalls and had not responded to the continued regulatory breaches we found at our inspection on 15 December 2022.
Are services well-led?
We found this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made insufficient improvements to put right the shortfalls and had not responded to the continued regulatory breaches we found at our inspection on 15 December 2022.
Background
Crescent Dental Practice, is in the Lincolnshire market town of Spalding and provides private treatment for adults and children.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs at the rear of the premises. There are no car parking facilities, but there are public car parks within close proximity to the practice. These include parking for blue badge holders.
The dental team includes 3 dentists, 2 dental nurses and 1 receptionist. The practice has 2 treatment rooms and a dedicated decontamination room.
The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist. 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 provider was not present during the inspection. We spoke with 1 dental nurse, 1 receptionist and a staff member identified as a practice manager / receptionist. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
We identified regulations the provider was not meeting. They must:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
Full details of the regulations the provider was not meeting are at the end of this report.