Gravesend Dental Clinic

Updated 1 August 2016

We carried out an unannounced, focused inspection on 03 March 2016 to follow up on the areas on the breaches of regulation found on the last inspection on 16 June 2015. The inspection took place over one day.

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was assisted by a dental specialist advisor.

We reviewed the information received from the provider prior to the inspection in March 2016. We received an action plan which detailed evidence of actions taken to address the breaches of regulation found at the last inspection. We also informed the local NHS England and Healthwatch we were inspecting the practice; however we did not receive any information from them.

During our inspection, we reviewed policy documents and looked at the infection control processes. We spoke with four members of staff, including the practice manager, a dentist and dental nurse, and also observed staff interacting with patients in the waiting area.

We did not speak with any patients on this occasion but reviewed the practice reviews on NHS choices.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, on this occasion we asked the following three questions to establish that improvements had been made:

• Is it safe?

• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework

Updated 1 August 2016

This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We carried out an inspection of this service on 3 March 2016.

This inspection was carried out to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the practice after our comprehensive inspection on 24 July 2015 had been made.

We reviewed the practice against two of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe and is the service well-led?

Are services safe?

We found that this practice was providing safe 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

CQC inspected the practice on 16 July 2015 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding Regulation 12 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Safe care and treatment and Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Good governance.

We checked these areas as part of this focused inspection and found these had been resolved.

Gravesend Dental Care is a general dental practice in Gravesend offering both NHS and private dental treatment. The practice is one of many governed by Southern Dental a corporate provider. The practice treats both adults and children.

The practice has two dentists, two receptionists and two qualified dental nurses, who are all supported by a practice manager, the provider’s area business manager, and a complaints and compliance manager. The practice has the services of a part time dental hygienist who carry out preventative advice and treatment on prescription from the dentists.

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.

Our key findings were:

• There was appropriate equipment for staff to undertake their duties, and equipment was well maintained.
• The staff did not wear their uniform outside of the practice to minimise the risks associated with the spread of infections
• The surface in the decontamination room had been replaced
• A risk assessment had been carried out with regard to infection control at the practice
• The practice infection control policy had been reviewed, updated and all staff were aware of the contents
• The practice had systematically looked at all of their operational policies and protocols and had updated them where necessary and applied a review date.
• The practice manager had created a policy review plan to ensure that all policies, procedures, audits, maintenance of equipment would be addressed in a timely manner.