Archived: S Kirkup Dental Surgeon - Frederick Street South

Updated 23 January 2017

We undertook an announced focused inspection of S Kirkup Dental Surgeon on 13 December 2016. This inspection was carried out to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the practice after our comprehensive inspection on 29 September 2016 had been made. We inspected the practice against three of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe, effective and well-led. This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements.

The inspection was carried out by two CQC inspectors.

During the inspection, we spoke with the registered provider and two dental nurses / receptionists.

We reviewed policies, protocols, certificates and other documents to consolidate our findings.

Updated 23 January 2017

We carried out a follow-up inspection at the SKirkup Dental Surgeon - Frederick Street South on the 13 December 2016.

We undertook an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on the 29 September 2016 where breaches of legal requirements were found.

After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to each of the breaches. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

We reviewed the practice against three of the five questions we ask about services: is the service safe, effective and well-led? You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for S Kirkup Dental Surgeon - Frederick Street South on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We revisited the S Kirkup Dental Surgeon - Frederick Street South as part of this review and checked whether they had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements.

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 well-led?

We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

S Kirkup Dental Surgeon is situated in Meadowfield, Durham. The practice has two treatment rooms, a reception desk contained within one treatment room, a waiting area and an office. Car parking is available on the-streets outside the practice. Access for wheelchair users or pushchairs is possible via the ramp outside and both treatment rooms are located on the ground floor.

The practice is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 0900-1700, Wednesday and Friday 0900-1200 and provides predominantly NHS treatment to patients of all ages.

The dental team is comprised of the principal dentist, a dental hygienist who works one day a week and two qualified dental nurses / receptionists.

The principal dentist is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an individual. 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:

• All staff were welcoming and friendly.
• The practice was well organised, visibly clean and free from clutter.
• An Infection prevention and control policy was in place.
• We saw the sterilisation procedures followed recommended guidance.
• The practice had systems for recording incidents and accidents.
• Practice meetings were used for shared learning.
• The practice had a safeguarding policy and staff were aware on how to escalate safeguarding issues for children and adults should the need arise.
• Staff received annual medical emergency training. Equipment for dealing with medical emergencies reflected guidance from the resuscitation council.
• Patient feedback was regularly sought and reflected upon.
• Patients could access urgent care when required.
• Dental professionals were maintaining their continued professional development (CPD) in accordance with their professional registration.
• Dental professionals were knowledgeable of current professional guidelines and provided treatment in accordance with these.
• The practice had developed a structured audit cycle to monitor the quality and safety of dental treatment and administrative work.
• Dental care records were detailed sufficiently to provide continuation of care and reflected guidance from the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners.