Archived: Diamond Dental and Medical Clinic

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

We found this practice was not providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations. During our assessment of this key question, we found concerns related to the completeness of patient care records, the practice having an ineffective system to keep dental professionals up to date with current evidence-based practice. This resulted in a breach of Regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can find more details of our concerns in the evidence category findings below.

Find out what we look at when we assess this area in our information about our new Single assessment framework.

The judgement for Assessing needs is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

The provider did not have systems to ensure that people who used the service received person-centred care and treatment that was appropriate and met their needs. The Registered Manager told us that on some days, treatment had been provided by a person who was not registered with GDC meaning this person did not have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience to provide dental treatment safely. The dentist told us that where applicable, they referred patients to a range of specialists in primary and secondary care for treatment the practice did not provide. Staff did not keep up to date with current evidence-based practice. Staff lacked sufficient knowledge of nationally recognised guidance, including the most recent guidelines around antimicrobial prescribing, guidance around supporting better oral health, NICE guidelines, periodontal classifications, gaining consent from patients who have limited capacity to consent and of Gillick competency, by which a child under the age of 16 years of age may give consent for themselves in certain circumstances. Staff did not demonstrate sufficient understanding of the need to obtain patients’ consent to care and treatment in line with legislation and guidance.

Staff did not have the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles. The practice did not have systems to keep dental professionals up to date with current evidence-based practice. We looked at a sample of patient care records. The information recorded was not in line with recognised guidance. For example, we saw 6 patient care records from 8 May 2024. These referred to a registered dentist as the treating clinician who had not worked at the practice since November 2023, and to a dental nurse who had not worked at the practice on that day. In addition, a number of dental appointments marked as attended did not have correlating clinical records with details of the treatment provided. We did not see evidence the dentist justified, graded and reported on the radiographs they took. The practice did not have systems for the safe handling and prescribing of medicines. The private prescription pads were not kept securely, and there were no systems in place to monitor their use.

The judgement for How staff, teams and services work together is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

The judgement for Supporting people to live healthier lives is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

The judgement for Monitoring and improving outcomes is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

The judgement for Consent to care and treatment is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.