Archived: AllClear Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 29 June 2016 to ask the practice the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

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

Are services effective?

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

Are services caring?

We found that this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

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

Are services well-led?

We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

AllClear Dental Practice is a private dental practice in Croydon. The practice is situated in a retail unit within an enclosed shopping centre. The practice had three dental treatment rooms and a separate decontamination room for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments. Also included were a reception and waiting area.

The practice is open 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Saturday. The practice has three dentists working over the course of a week and are supported by two dental nurses, three dental hygienists, four receptionists and a practice manager.

The practice manager is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission comment cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. We received feedback from 51 patients. These provided a completely positive view of the services the practice provides. Patients commented on the high quality of care, the friendliness and professionalism of all staff, the cleanliness of the practice and the overall high quality of customer care.

Our key findings were:

• We found that the practice ethos was to provide patient centred dental care in a relaxed and friendly environment.
• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• The practice appeared clean and well maintained.
• Infection control procedures were robust however the practice were not carrying out infection control audits periodically.
• The practice had a safeguarding lead with effective processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• The practice had a system in place for reporting incidents which the practice used for shared learning.
• Dentists provided dental care in accordance with current professional and National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
• The service was aware of the needs of the local population and took these into account in how the practice was run.
• Patients could access treatment and urgent and emergency care when required.
• Staff recruitment records were organised; however some detail such as interview notes and Curriculum vitaes were not on all files.
• There was no structured approach to learning and development and some staff had gaps in their training.
• Staff we spoke with felt well supported by the practice owner and practice manager and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Information from 51 completed Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, caring, professional and high quality service.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review the practice’s safeguarding staff training ensuring all staff are trained to an appropriate level for their role and are aware of their responsibilities.
• Review the training, learning and development needs of individual staff members and have an effective process established for the on-going assessment and supervision of all staff.
• Review the practice’s audit protocols of various aspects of the service, such as radiography, infection control and dental care records at regular intervals to help improve the quality of service. Practice should also check that where approprite audits have documented learning points and the resulting improvements can be demonstrated.
• Review arrangements in place for ensuring equipment is serviced and well maintained at timely intervals.