Archived: East Cowes Walk In Dental Centre

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 17 May 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 regulation.

Background

East Cowes Dental Walk In Centre operates from the first floor of a commercial premises and provides NHS and private dentistry for both adults and children. The practice is situated in East Cowes.

The practice has two dental treatment rooms and two separate decontamination rooms used for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments. The practice is based in a health centre which is also occupied by a GP practice and a pharmacy.

The practice employs three dentists, a hygienist, two qualified dental nurses, three trainee dental nurse/receptionists, one receptionist and a practice manager. The practice opens seven days a week between 8.00am and 6.00pm and Wednesdays between 8.00am and 8.00pm.

There are arrangements in place to ensure patients receive urgent dental assistance when the practice is closed. This is provided by an out-of-hours service. If patients called the practice when it was closed an answerphone message gives the telephone number patients should ring depending on their symptoms.

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.

During our inspection we reviewed 15 CQC comment cards completed by patients and obtained the view of 17 patients on the day of our inspection.

The inspection was carried out by a lead inspector and a dental specialist adviser.

Our key findings were:

• The practice manager explained that the practice ethos was to provide patient 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 and the practice followed published guidance.
• The practice had a safeguarding lead and effective processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these 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 had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).
• Staff we spoke with felt well supported by the practice manager and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Information from 15 completed Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, caring, professional and high quality service.
• The practice reviewed and dealt with complaints according to their practice policy.

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

• Consider installing a hearing loop for patients with hearing difficulties.
• Inform the Health and Safety Executive of the use of radiography in accordance with the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999.
• Re-establish the system of the formal reporting of other incidents and near misses.
• Review the systems and processes and mitigate risks relating to fire safety and training.
• Review the storage of emergency medicines and equipment and consider re-locating this equipment away from the clean room of the decontamination unit.
• Consider the provision of an annual infection prevention control statement in accordance with The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance’.