Updated 25 November 2020
We undertook a follow up desk-based review of Chester Dental Clinic on 28 October 2020. This review 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 review was led by a CQC inspector.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of Chester Dental Clinic on 30 October 2019 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 well led care and was in breach of Regulation 17 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 Chester Dental Clinic on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
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 or review again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the area where improvement was required.
As part of this review we asked:
• Is it well-led?
Our findings were:
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 breach we found at our inspection on 28 October 2020.
Background
Chester Dental Clinic is in Chester town centre and provides NHS and private treatment to adults and children.
Access is not possible for wheelchair users. Car parking, including spaces for blue badge holders, are available near the practice.
The dental team includes three dentists, four dental nurses (one of which is the practice manager and one is a trainee), one part time dental hygienist and a receptionist. The practice has three treatment rooms.
The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist there. They have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.
During the review we spoke with owner and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5.30pm
Saturday 9am to 1pm
Our key findings were:
- There were systems in place for checking the availability of medicines and life-saving equipment and removing expired medicines.
- Systems to identify and manage risk to patients and staff had been improved. For example, electrical and fire safety, risk assessing hazardous substances and sharps, and ensuring staff had immunity to Hepatitis B.
- A system was in place to ensure the security and appropriate use of NHS prescriptions.
- A process was now in place to check the suitability of agency staff and ensure they are familiar with practice protocols.
- The provider had increased their leadership capacity at the practice and staff reported that communication had improved.