Archived: Warren House Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 January 2017 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

Warren House Dental Practice operates from the first floor of a converted commercial property and provides private dentistry for adults and NHS treatment for children. The practice is situated in the town of Cranleigh, Surrey. The practice has four dental treatment rooms with decontamination procedures carried out in a designated area within each treatment room

The practice team consists of six dentists, two of whom have a specialist interest in a particular branch of dentistry; one dentist has a specialist interest in periodontics (gum problems) and another in surgical dentistry. There are also six dental nurses and two part-time dental hygienists.

The practice opens Monday to Friday between 9.00am and 5pm.

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.

Mrs Rachael Slocombe is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an individual provider. 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 inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a CQC inspector and a dental specialist advisor.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission (CQC) comments cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. We collected 14 completed cards. All the comments from patients were positive about the care they received from the practice. They were very complimentary about the friendly and caring attitude of the dental staff.

Our key findings were:

• We found that the practice ethos was to provide patient centred dental care in a relaxed and friendly environment.
• Effective clinical leadership was provided by the practice owner
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned in line with current guidance such as from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
• There were effective systems in place to reduce and minimise the risk and spread of infection.
• The practice had effective safeguarding processes in place and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these and discussed information for shared learning.
• Equipment, such as the air compressor, autoclave (steriliser), fire extinguishers, and X-ray equipment had all been checked for effectiveness and had been regularly serviced.
• Patients indicated that they felt they were listened to and that they received good care from a helpful and caring practice team.
• The practice ensured staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.
• The practice had implemented clear procedures for managing comments, concerns or complaints.
• The provider had a clear vision for the practice and staff told us they were well supported by the management team.
• Governance arrangements and audits were robust and effective in improving the quality and safety of the services.

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

• Review the arrangements for providing the hygienists with the support of an appropriately trained member of the dental team whenever possible.
• Consider providing an annual statement in relation to infection prevention control required under The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance is prepared.