Background to this inspection
Updated
9 January 2017
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
We carried out an announced, comprehensive inspection on 1 November 2016. The inspection team consisted of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspector and a dental specialist advisor.
We requested some information from the practice before the inspection such as, the practice statement of purpose, a list of staff employed and their roles and qualifications and a summary of complaints received in the last 12 months. We also reviewed the information we held about the practice and looked at the practice website.
On the day of our inspection we reviewed policies, procedures and other documents. We received feedback via CQC comment cards from 23 patients about the dental services they had received.
To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:
• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?
These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.
Updated
9 January 2017
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 November 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
E M Swanson Dental practice is a dental practice providing NHS and private treatment options for patients. The practice is located in premises in Strood Rochester.
The practice has three treatment rooms, which are on the ground floor.
The practice provides dental services to both adults and children. The practice provides private treatment. Services provided include general dentistry, dental hygiene, crowns and bridges, orthotropics and root canal treatment. Patients also have the option of private treatment options such as implants on referral.
The practice’s opening hours are – Monday 8.30am to 3pm with alternate evening appointments 4pm to 7pm, 5pm Tuesday 8.30am to 3pm, Wednesday – reception only, alternate Thursdays 5pm to 8pm, and alternate Friday 9am to 1pm.
Access for urgent treatment outside of opening hours is by telephoning the practice and following the instructions on the answerphone message or by telephoning the 111 NHS service.
The principal dentist/owner is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an individual. 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.
The practice has three dentists; two qualified dental nurses, one receptionist, and a hygienist.
We provided CQC comment cards prior to our inspection and reviewed feedback from 23 patients plus feedback that practice had received through surveys, comments and complaints.
Our key findings were:
• The practice was visibly clean and tidy.
• Records showed there were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff to meet the needs of patients.
• Patients at the practice gave mostly positive feedback about their experiences at the practice.
• The practice was well equipped.
• Dentists identified the different treatment options, and discussed these with patients.
• Patients’ confidentiality was maintained.
• The practice followed the relevant guidance from the Department of Health's: ‘Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 (HTM 01-05) for infection control with regard to cleaning and sterilising dental instruments. Apart from consistent use of the illuminated magnifying glass to ensure that all instruments were free of debris and undamaged.
• The practice had the necessary equipment for staff to deal with medical emergencies, and staff had been trained how to use that equipment. This included an automated external defibrillator, oxygen and emergency medicines.