Archived: Gosport Smile Clinic

Updated 10 December 2015

We carried out an announced, comprehensive inspection on 14th September 2015.The inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a lead inspector and a dental specialist adviser.

We informed NHS England area team that we were inspecting the practice.

During our inspection visit, we reviewed policy documents and staff records. We spoke with seven members of staff, including the practice manager. We conducted a tour of the practice and looked at the storage arrangements for emergency medicines and equipment. We observed the decontamination technician carrying out decontamination procedures of dental instruments and also observed staff interacting with patients in the waiting area. We reviewed comment cards completed by patients and spoke with two patients. Patients gave a positive feedback about their experience at the practice.

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 10 December 2015

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 14 September 2015 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

Gosport Smile Clinic is a mixed dental practice providing mainly NHS and some private treatment and caters for both adults and children. The practice is situated in a converted residential property. The practice has three dental treatment rooms and a separate decontamination room for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments and a reception and waiting area. Some facilities were on the ground floor enabling disabled access.

The practice has one full time dentist, a locum, a part-time dental hygienist and a dental nurse. Supporting the clinical staff were a full time practice manager, who is also a dental nurse, two reception staff and a decontamination technician. The practice also had one dental nurse from an agency on the day of our visit. The practice’s opening hours are 8:00am – 5:30pm Mondays to Fridays.

The Provider 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 of 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 collected 15 completed cards and spoke to two patients. These provided a positive view of the services the practice provides. All of the patients commented that the quality of care was very good.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 14th September 2015 as part of our planned inspection of all dental practices. The inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a lead inspector and a dental specialist adviser.

Our key findings were:

• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and emergency equipment were readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current professional guidelines.
• All equipment used in the practice was well maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
• The practice was visibly clean and well maintained.
• Infection control procedures were robust and the practice followed published guidance.
• The practice had enough staff to deliver the service.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).
• Staff felt well supported by the practice manager and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Information from 15 completed CQC comment cards gave us a positive picture of a friendly, professional service.
• All complaints were dealt with in an open and transparent way by the practice manager if a mistake had been made.
• The practice had a programme of clinical audit in place.

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

• Re-sterilise equipment that has passed it’s expiry date for sterilisation or remove it from use, provide bins for the disposal of hazardous waste that can be operated using a foot pedal and remove materials that are passed their expiry date.
• Provide a policy on safeguarding adults and review policies, recording the date of review on the policy.
• Provide all staff with appraisals at least annually.
• Review records for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health and update them in line with new products brought into use.
• Record the distribution of alerts from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency and record any actions taken as a result of these alerts.