Archived: St Mark Crown Court Dental Clinic

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 22 June 2016 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 providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

St Marks Crown Court Clinic specialises in providing NHS and private general dentistry and more complex treatment for patients such as oral surgery. Particularly for nervous patients including those with significant anxieties about having dental treatment. The practice caters for children and adults.

The practice is housed in a listed building that used to be a crown court. The practice has four dental treatment rooms, a decontamination room for cleaning, sterilising and packaging of dental instruments. There is a reception area and waiting room on the ground floor and another waiting area upstairs on the first floor.

The practice has six dentists, two of which is are oral surgeons, ten registered dental nurses and one student dental nurse. Two dental hygienists provide preventative advice and gum treatments on prescription from the dentists working in the practice. The practice also uses specialist input from three anaesthetists.

The practice manager and clinical team are supported by an administrator, a filing clerk and two receptionists.

The practice owner is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission comment cards to the practice for patients to use to tell us about their experience of the practice. We collected 11 completed cards. These provided a positive view of the service the practice provides. We also spoke with four patients. Patients were complimentary about the friendliness and professionalism of staff, the care and treatment they received and the standards of cleanliness at the practice. One comment stated that the service was very good but sometimes it was difficult to get an appointment.

Our key findings were:

• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these which the practice used for shared learning.

• The practice was visibly clean and well maintained.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other published guidance.

• The practice had effective safeguarding processes and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.

• The practice specialised in supporting nervous patients to overcome their anxieties about having dental treatment. Patients were particularly appreciative of the care and understanding they were shown.

• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).

• The practice provided the option of sedation to patients and carried this out in line with guidelines from the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD)

• The practice had a written sedation and discharge protocol which was followed by staff.

• The practice took into account any comments, concerns or complaints and used these to help them improve the practice.