DK Dental Practice

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We found this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations. We will be following up on our concerns to ensure the provider had made the required improvements.

During our inspection of this key question, we found a lack of systems or processes that enabled the registered person to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services being provided. There was also a lack of systems or processes to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others who may be at risk.

This resulted in a breach of Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

You can find more details of our concerns in the detailed findings below.

Find out what we look at when we assess this area in our information about our new Single assessment framework.

The judgement for Shared direction and culture is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

The judgement for Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

The judgement for Freedom to speak up is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

The judgement for Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

There had been a lack of oversight and leadership at the practice which had led to omissions and ineffective systems.

Systems for ensuring that information in the form of policies and procedures was kept up to date were ineffective as they were not reviewed at timely intervals and there were no systems to ensure that staff had read and understood them.

Staff were aware of the importance of protecting patients’ personal information. Staff password protected patients’ electronic care records, but paper records were not stored securely to comply with General Data Protection Regulations.

We saw that improvements were required to the processes in place for identifying and managing risks and investigating incidents and accidents.

The practice had ineffective systems and processes for learning, quality assurance and continuous improvement. Although audits were undertaken, these were not completed according to recognised guidance. The practice should take action to ensure audits of radiography, infection prevention and control, record keeping and antimicrobial prescribing are undertaken at regular intervals to maintain or improve the quality of the service. The practice should also ensure that, where appropriate, audits have documented learning points, and the resulting improvements can be demonstrated.

Concerns and complaints were responded to appropriately, and improvements were underway to ensure that outcomes were documented and discussed to share learning and for improvement.

Staff feedback was obtained through meetings and informal discussions. They were encouraged to offer suggestions for improvements to the service, and they said these were listened to and acted upon, where appropriate.

Feedback from patients, the public and external partners was collected to which the practice responded.

The judgement for Partnerships and communities is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

The judgement for Learning, improvement and innovation is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.