Updated 14 March 2019
We undertook a focused inspection of The Bower Dental Practice on 20 December 2018. This inspection was carried out to review in detail the actions taken by the registered provider to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector.
We undertook a comprehensive inspection of The Bower Dental Practice on 10 April 2018 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We found the registered provider was not providing well led care and was in breach of regulation 17 Good Governance of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can read our report of that inspection by selecting the 'all reports' link for The Bower Dental Practice on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
As part of this inspection we asked:
• Is it well-led?
When one or more of the five questions are not met we require the service to make improvements and send us an action plan. We then inspect again after a reasonable interval, focusing on the area’s where improvement was required.
Our findings were:
Are services well-led?
We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
The provider had made improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we found at our inspection on 10 April 2018.
Background
The Bower Dental Practice is in Tonbridge and provides NHS and private treatment to patients of all ages.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including some for blue badge holders, are available in the practice car park.
The dental team includes two dentists, one dental hygienist, two dental nurses, two receptionists and a practice manager. The practice has three treatment rooms.
The practice is owned by a partnership and as a condition of registration must have a person registered with the Care Quality Commission as the registered manager. Registered managers have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run. The registered manager at The Bower Dental Practice was the principal dentist.
During the inspection we spoke with one dentist, one dental nurse, one receptionist and the practice manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
The practice is open:
Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm