Dale Road Dental Clinic

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 March 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

Dale Road Dental Care is a dental practice providing mainly NHS and some private treatment for both adults and children.

The practice is situated in a converted domestic dwelling situated west of Southampton City. The practice has three dental treatment rooms and a separate decontamination room used for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments. The practice is based on the ground and first floor enabling level access throughout the ground floor.

The practice employs two dentists, one hygienist, three dental nurses, of which two are trainee dental nurses, two receptionists and a practice manager. The practice’s opening hours are 8am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm from Monday to Friday. There are arrangements in place to ensure patients receive urgent medical assistance when the practice is closed. This is provided by an out-of-hours service.

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.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission comment cards to the practice for patients to complete in order to tell us about their experience of the practice. We received feedback from six patients and an additional 13 patients on the day of our visit. All of these provided a positive view of the services the practice provides. Patients commented on the high quality of care provided by the dentists, the friendly nature of all staff and the cleanliness of the practice.

Our inspection was carried out by a lead inspector and a dental specialist adviser.

Our key findings were:

• All permanent staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.

• The practice appeared clean and maintained throughout

• Infection control procedures followed published guidance.

• The practice had a safeguarding lead with processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.

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

• Dentists provided dental care in accordance with current professional and National Institute for Care Excellence guidelines

• The service was aware of the needs of the local population and took these into account in how the practice was run.

• Patients could access treatment and urgent and emergency care when required.

• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development by the practice manager.

• Staff we spoke to felt supported by the practice manager and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.

• Information from 19 patients gave us a positive picture of a friendly and professional service.

• The practice manager provided effective leadership for staff working at the practice.

• The practice reviewed and dealt with complaints according to their practice policy.

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

• Carry out an appraisal for the practice manager.

• Consider providing the hygienist with the chair side support of a dental nurse.

• Arrange basic life support training for the locum dentist.

• Consider installing a hearing loop.

• Advertise facilities for patient interpreting services.

• Review access facilities for disabled and older patients.