CQC demands dentist improves services

Published: 18 May 2012 Page last updated: 12 May 2022

18 May 2012

Lydiate Dental Surgery is not meeting essential standards of quality and safety.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Lydiate Dental Surgery in Sefton that it is not meeting essential standards and must improve.  

CQC inspectors visited Lydiate Dental Surgery, 20 Liverpool Road, Lydiate in Sefton, Merseyside on 19 March 2012.

Upon inspection, CQC found the provider was failing to meet five of the essential standards of quality and safety, covering care and welfare, safeguarding, cleanliness and infection control, safety and suitability of premises and record keeping.

By law, providers of care services must ensure they are meeting all the essential standards.

The report, which is published on the CQC website today, highlights three areas of concern:

Care and welfare of people who use services

Inspectors reviewed a sample of medical records and found that these were often incomplete or missing significant information. There was a lack of evidence to show that discussions had taken place with patients about their oral health or the treatment choices that were available to them. In addition, there was no indication that staff had received basic life support or first aid training.

Cleanliness and infection control

Inspectors found that the provider was failing to ensure appropriate levels of cleanliness and there was no evidence to demonstrate that risk assessments or checks had taken place to ensure infection control measures were suitably robust.

Records

Clinical notes detailing examination and treatment planning for individual patients were hand written, and in some cases these were not legible. Inspectors were concerned that individual patient records did not provide an accurate or personalised account of each patients’ care, and that records were not being consistently stored in a way that allowed quick access.

CQC inspectors have requested an action plan from the provider detailing how standards will improve and will carry out another inspection in the near future to check that progress has been made.

CQC Head of Compliance for the North West, Ann Ford said:

“We found non-compliance with essential standards at this practice, which is concerning.

“Dental providers have only recently come under regulation by the CQC and it is cases like this that show the value of regulation.

“The provider must improve or may face enforcement action, which could include a fine or a notice of proposal to cancel its registration.

“By law, providers of certain adult social care and health care services have a responsibility to make sure they are meeting essential standards of quality and safety. These are the standards everyone should be able to expect when they receive care.”

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC Regional Communications Team, David Fryer 07901 514 220 or Kirstin Hannaford 0191 233 3629.

The CQC press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

Find out more

Read the reports from our checks on standards at Lydiate Dental Surgery.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.