Updated 20 January 2022
We undertook a remote focused follow up inspection of Dental Care Centre on 7 January 2022. This inspection 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 inspection was carried out by a CQC inspector who had remote access to a specialist dental advisor.
We undertook a focused inspection of Dental Care Centre on 14 September 2021 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 Dental Care Centre 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. We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the areas where improvement was required.
As part of this inspection 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 to put right the shortfalls and had responded to the regulatory breach we found at our inspection on 14 September 2021.
Background
Dental Care Centre is in Teddington, in the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames and provides NHS treatment to children and private dental care and treatment for adults and children.
The practice is located close to public transport links and car parking spaces are available near the practice.
The dental team includes five dentists, one hygienist, two dental nurses, one dental nurse/practice manager, one dental nurse/receptionist and one receptionist. The practice has four treatment rooms.
During the inspection we spoke with the principal dentist and the dental nurse/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 from 9am to 5.30pm.
Our key findings were:
- An Information Governance Policy taking into account the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements was in place and staff had undertaken data security training.
- Staff knew how to deal with medical emergencies and appropriate life-saving equipment was available according to the national guidelines. An updated monitoring system had also been implemented to ensure all medicines were available.
- Dental equipment was serviced and maintained according to the manufacturer’s guidance and recommendations and a monitoring system had been introduced to ensure this was maintained.
- Systems were in place to help the provider manage risks to patients and staff including when staff worked alone.
- The provider had staff recruitment procedures which reflected current legislation.
- A monitoring system was in place to enable the provider to assure themselves that training was up-to-date and undertaken at the required intervals.
- Improvements had been made to the system for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) to ensure all important information was available and organised.