Perfect Smile Reading Dental Sedation Clinic

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

We found this practice was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations. We will be following up on our concerns to ensure they have been put right by the provider.

During our assessment of this key question, we found concerns related to the use of conscious sedation while delivering dental care and treatment.

This resulted in a breach of Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

You can find more details of our concerns in the evidence category 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 Learning culture is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Safe key question.

The judgement for Safe systems, pathways and transitions is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Safe key question.

The judgement for Safeguarding is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Safe key question.

The judgement for Involving people to manage risks is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Safe key question.

The practice had policies and procedures in relation to the delivery of conscious sedation. However these procedures were not fully embedded or followed:

The sedation policies and procedures had not been reviewed to consider potential risks when using a combination of sedation medicines. The assessment documents did not clearly indicate the rationale for using a combination of these medicines.

The policies and risk assessments had not taken into account specific measures for dealing with medical emergencies when a patient had been sedated.

Incidents where reversal medicines were used during sedation were not considered as significant events, investigated and learning used to reduce these incidents.

There were ineffective systems to monitor medicines used in sedation as part of the procedures for delivering safe care.

Following our inspection visit the provider submitted evidence of the changes they had and were implementing to improve the procedures for the provision of conscious sedation. We will carry out a further visit to check on these improvements.

Staff had training in immediate life support and conscious sedation. Training was monitored to ensure that all staff completed periodic refresher updates.

The practice ensured that there were suitable numbers of trained staff when carrying out sedation.

Staff had access to the practice policies and procedures in relation to the provision of sedation. Improvements were needed to ensure that staff fully understood the practice procedures and how to report if these were not being followed. Staff were unaware that incidents where medicines to reverse sedation were used must be reported as significant events.

The judgement for Infection prevention and control is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Safe key question.

The judgement for Medicines optimisation is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Safe key question.