Updated 27 July 2020
We undertook a follow up desk-based inspection of Stubbington Avenue Dental Practice on 3 July 2020. This inspection was carried out to review in detail the actions taken by the registered provider to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who had remote access to a dental professional specialist adviser.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of Stubbington Avenue Dental Practice on 25 September 2019 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We found the registered provider was not providing well led care and was in breach of regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can read our report of that inspection by selecting the 'all reports' link for Stubbington Avenue Dental Practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it well-led?
When one or more of the five questions are not met we require the service to make improvements and send us an action plan. We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the areas where improvement was required.
Our findings were:
Are services well-led?
We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made improvements in relation to the regulatory breach we found at our inspection on 25 September 2019.
Background
Stubbington Avenue Dental Practice is in Portsmouth and provides NHS and private dental treatment to adults and children.
There is level access, with the use of a ramp, for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including those for blue badge holders, are available near the practice.
The dental team includes two principal dentists, four dental nurses, four dental hygienists, one practice manager and two receptionists. The practice has four treatment rooms.
The practice is owned by a partnership and as a condition of registration must have a person registered with the Care Quality Commission as the registered manager. Registered managers 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 registered manager at Stubbington Avenue Dental Practice was one of the principal dentists. A registered manager is legally responsible for the delivery of services for which the practice is registered.
The practice is open:
- Monday to Thursday 8.15am – 5.00pm
- Friday 8.00am - 2.30pm
Our key findings were:
- Additional practice policies were now in place for recruitment, prescriptions, referrals, lone working and whistleblowing to help manage risk to patients and staff.
- Improvements had been made by implementing auditing of antibiotic prescribing, and the control and storage of substances hazardous to health.
We are mindful of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.