Archived: Woodvale Clinic

The dental nurse we spoke to told us how both nurses and the dentist had recently received training in infection control and basic life support. We were shown certificates that confirmed this training had taken place. We also saw that there were plans for refresher training in 12 months time.

We were shown protocols for both clinical waste and surgery cleaning. Both protocols were detailed and appropriate. A system was in place to record the removal of clinical waste and a regular audit was planned.

We were shown the practice recruitment policy. The policy was detailed and contained information required to fulfil schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 which assists in ensuring all staff are suitable and sufficiently trained to treat people who use a regulated service.

We asked the dental nursing staff how they kept up to date with current treatments and procedures. We were told that training was an issue and that no formal training had been provided to either of the dental nurses for the previous four years.

We were told by the person visiting the dentist that day that the practice was always clean when they attended. They told us that staff regularly washed their hands and always wore gloves and other protective equipment when they were being treated. We asked about infection control risk assessments and audits, to check how infection control was monitored. We were told that no formal risk assessments or audits of infection control took place.

We spoke to one person who had attended the practice for treatment and they were very satisfied with the treatment they had received. They felt staff were suitably skilled to deliver the treatments that they required. We were told; "Staff are competent and the reception staff, I cannot fault them.'

The provider was not able to supply us with a recruitment policy.

We spoke to staff and it was clear they knew how to deal with complaints and that they could escalate them appropriately if they were not able to resolve the complaint themselves.