Updated 21 August 2020
We undertook a desk-based review of The Dentist on 14 August 2020. This was carried out to review the actions taken by the registered provider to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was now meeting legal requirements.
We had undertaken a comprehensive inspection 26 November 2019 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 safe or well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations 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 Dentist on our website www.cqc.org.uk.
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 areas where improvement was required.
As part of this review we asked:
- Is it safe
- Is it well-led
Background
The Dentist, Buntingford is a well-established practice that offers private treatment to approximately 3500 patients. The dental team consists of a dentist, a dental nurse, two hygienists and a receptionist. There are three treatment rooms. The practice is open on Mondays to Thursdays from 9am to 6pm, and on Fridays from 9am to 1pm. There is portable ramp access for wheelchair users and a public car park close by.
The practice is owned by an individual who is the dentist there. He has legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.
Our findings were:
- We found this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
- We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations
Key findings
The provider had made sufficient improvements in relation to the regulatory breaches we found at our previous inspection. These must now be embedded in the practice and sustained in the long-term.