Updated 7 February 2023
We undertook a follow up focused inspection of Trinity Dental Practice on 30 November 2022. 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 was supported by a specialist dental adviser.
We undertook a focused inspection of Trinity Dental Practice on 25 May 2022 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 safe and well led care and was in breach of regulations 12 Safe care and treatment and 17 Good governance 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 Trinity Dental Practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it safe?
• 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 safe?
We found this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we found at our inspection on 25 May 2022.
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 breaches we found at our inspection on 25 May 2022.
Background
The provider has 27 practices and this report is about Trinity Dental Practice
Trinity Dental Practice is in Eastbourne and provides NHS and private treatment for adults and children.
The practice is accessed by several steps which is not suitable for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including some for blue badge holders, are available near the practice.
The dental team includes 2 dentists, 2 trainee dental nurses, a dental hygienist, a dental hygiene therapist, 2 receptionists and a practice manager. The practice has 3 treatment rooms.
During the inspection we spoke with a dentist, 2 trainee dental nurses, 2 receptionists and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm
Our key findings were:
- The dental clinic appeared to be visibly clean and better maintained, further improvements were required and were being planned.
- Staff knew how to deal with medical emergencies. Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were available.
- The practice had implemented systems to help them manage risk to patients and staff.
- The appointment system took account of patients’ needs, where possible as another dentist had been appointed.
- There were improvements with the way complaints were dealt with and further improvements were being implemented.
- Arrangements for clinical governance had improved with further improvements in progress.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:
- Improve the practice's systems for checking and monitoring equipment taking into account relevant guidance and ensure that all equipment is well maintained. In particular, Portable appliance testing annually.
- Take action to ensure audits of disability access, antimicrobial prescribing and the quality of X-ray images are undertaken at the correct intervals to 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.