Archived: Woodbridge Hill Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 11 August 2015 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.

Woodbridge Hill Dental Practice is a general dental practice in Guildford, Surrey offering NHS and private dental treatment to adults and children.

The premises consist of a waiting area, a reception area and five treatment rooms. There is also a separate decontamination room.

There are four dentists who are partners at the practice, four dental nurses, four receptionists and a practice administrator. The practice employs the services of two part time dental hygienists who carry out preventative advice and treatment on prescription from the dentists. One of the dentists is also 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 were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection. We found the treatment rooms, decontamination room and equipment appeared clean.

• There were management systems in place to check all equipment had been serviced regularly, including the suction compressor, autoclave, fire extinguishers, oxygen cylinder and the X-ray equipment.

• Staff demonstrated knowledge of the practice whistleblowing policy and were confident they would raise a concern about another staff member’s performance if it was necessary.

• The practice ensured staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.

• We observed staff were kind, caring and put patients at their ease.

• We reviewed 42 Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards that had been completed by patients which all reflected positive experiences of care and treatment. Common themes were patients felt they received very professional service from a caring and friendly practice team in a clean environment.

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

• Ensure an effective stock control system is in place for the safe disposal of expired medicines.
• Ensure staff wear appropriate personal protective equipment when decontaminating dental instruments.
• Consider reassessing the handrails on the stairs to permit easier access to the practice for those with limited mobility in accordance with patient feedback.