Corby Dental Clinic

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 20 February 2017 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

Corby Dental Care is situated in the old village of Corby and provides a range of dental NHS services to patients of all ages with some private treatments also available. The practice has its own small car park and is situated close to public car parks. The practice is situated on two floors with two dental treatment rooms, a decontamination room, and a ground floor reception/waiting area.

The practice opens weekdays from 9am until 5pm and closes at lunchtimes between 12.30 and 1.30pm. The service is run by Southern Dental Limited who provide care at approximately 80 NHS and private dental practices. They employ two dentists and one hygienist. They are supported by a practice manager, two registered dental nurses and a cleaner.

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.

We received feedback from 13 patients either in person or on CQC comments cards from patients who had visited the practice in the two weeks before our inspection. The cards were all positive and commented about the level of care and treatment they had received and the caring and compassionate attitude of the staff.

Our key findings were:

• There was appropriate equipment for staff to undertake their duties, and equipment was generally well maintained. We identified that one item of equipment had not been serviced for more than a year and immediate action was taken to address this.
• Staff had received training in handling medical emergencies and they had access to appropriate medicines and life- saving equipment in accordance with current guidelines. However, we found that medicine used for treating a diabetic patient had not been stored at an appropriate temperature. This was immediately discarded, reordered and the storage was reviewed.
• The practice appeared very clean and well maintained.
• Infection control procedures were in place and the practice followed published guidance. However the manual cleaning of dental instruments and the use of the ultrasonic washer required a review to ensure appropriate and safe procedures were being followed at all times. Most hand wash sinks were compliant with guidelines with the exception of the sink in the decontamination room.
• An accident and incident reporting system was in place although few had been reported. The policy required strengthening so that staff were clear on how to recognise and respond to significant events, incidents and accidents and use opportunities to reflect on their learning.
• Patients told us they received good dental care and were usually able to book convenient appointments. They told us staff were welcoming and caring.
• Governance arrangements were in place for the smooth running of the practice; however the practice did not have a structured plan in place to audit quality and safety beyond the mandatory audits for infection control and radiography. They planned to establish a more detailed system for this.

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

• Review the arrangements for sharing and recording the response to patient safety alerts, recalls and rapid response reports issued from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Central Alerting System (CAS), and Public Health England (PHE).

• Review the procedures in place so that staff are clear on how to recognise and respond to significant events, incidents and accidents. Review and use opportunities to reflect on learning following significant events, incidents, accidents, complaints and external advisor reports so that learning is shared and actioned appropriately.

• Review the procedures for cleaning dental instruments and ensure that hand wash sinks are appropriate 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 the protocol for completing accurate, complete and detailed records of interviews relating to the employment of staff as well as their Hepatitis B immunity records.
• Review and consider the introduction of a hearing loop system.