Castle Street Dental Practice

Updated 22 October 2015

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Castle Street Dental Practice on 1 July 2015. Our inspection team was led by a CQC Lead Inspector. The team included a Dentist specialist advisor.

Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information we hold about the practice and asked other organisations, such as NHS England and the local Healthwatch, to share what they knew. We did not receive any information of concern.

During our visit we spoke with a range of staff (one dentist, the practice manager, two dental nurses and one receptionist) and spoke with four patients who used the service. We spoke with four patients, reviewed 35 comment cards where patients and members of the public shared their views and experiences of the service and reviewed practice documentation.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 22 October 2015

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 July 2015 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 not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Castle Street Dental Practice is a general dental practice and is equipped to deal with all dental requirements, such as treating tooth decay and gum disease and restorative dentistry. The practice provides private services for approximately 700 patients in Canterbury and the surrounding areas.

The practice staff included one practice manager, three dentists, a periodontal specialist, a restorative dentist, two hygienist, three dental nurses, a trainee dental nurse and two receptionists. Dental services are provided Monday to Thursday between the hours of 8.30am and 8pm, Fridays 8.30am to 5.30pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm.

The practice manager is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. 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.

Prior to our inspection we provided some CQC comment cards for patients to complete about their experience of the practice. A total of 35 comments cards were received and we found that patients had made positive comments about the practice and were very satisfied with the care and treatment they received from the staff. Patients said dentists took time to explain their dental needs to them and treated them with compassion and professionalism.

Our key findings were:

The practice was providing effective, caring and responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

• There were systems to check all equipment had been serviced regularly, including the suction compressor, autoclave, fire extinguishers, oxygen cylinder and the X-ray equipment.
• Dentists regularly assessed each patient’s gum health and took X-rays at appropriate intervals.
• Patients were provided with information and were involved in decision making about the care and treatment they received.
• The practice delivered personalised care to patients that took into account their individual needs.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

• Review the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols giving due regard to guidelines issued by the Department of Health - Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices and The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance’.
• Review availability of medicines and equipment to manage medical emergencies giving due regard to guidelines issued by the British National Formulary, the Resuscitation Council (UK), and the General Dental Council (GDC) standards for the dental team.

• Review risk assessment activity to ensure all risks are assessed and reduced where possible.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

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

• Provide up to date mandatory training and annual appraisals for all staff.