Smile For Life Dental Clinic - Camberley

We carried out this announced inspection on 13 January 2020 under section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We planned the inspection to check whether the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations. The inspection was led by a Care Quality Commission, (CQC), inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it caring?

• Is it responsive to people’s needs?

• Is it well-led?

These questions form the framework for the areas we look at during the inspection.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Smile for Life Dental Clinic is in Camberley and provides NHS and private dental care and treatment for adults and children.

There is level access to the practice for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including dedicated parking for disabled people, are available near the practice.

The dental team includes four dentists, five dental nurses, one dental hygienist, one dental hygiene therapist, two receptionists and a practice manager.

The practice has six treatment rooms of which four are in use.

The practice is owned by a partnership and as a condition of registration must have a person registered with the CQC 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 Smile for Life Dental Clinic is the area manager.

On the day of inspection, we collected 32 comment cards filled in by patients and spoke with three other patients.

During the inspection we spoke with three dentists, three dental nurses, one dental hygienist, two receptionists and the area manager. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

The practice is open:

• Monday 8am – 7pm

• Tuesday 8am – 5pm

• Wednesday 8am – 5pm

• Thursday 8am – 7pm

• Friday 8am – 5pm

• Saturday 9am – 3pm

Our key findings were:

• The practice appeared to be visibly clean and well-maintained.
• The provider had infection control procedures which reflected published guidance.
• Staff knew how to deal with emergencies. Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were available.
• the provider had systems to help them manage risk to patients and staff, however improvements were needed to the day to day management of fire safety.
• The provider had safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.
• The provider had staff recruitment procedures which reflected current legislation.
• The clinical staff provided patients’ care and treatment in line with current guidelines.
• Staff treated patients with dignity and respect and took care to protect their privacy and personal information.
• Staff provided preventive care and supported patients to ensure better oral health.
• The appointment system took account of patients’ needs.
• The provider had effective leadership.
• Staff felt involved and supported and worked as a team.
• The provider asked staff and patients for feedback about the services they provided.
• The provider dealt with complaints positively and efficiently.
• The provider had information governance arrangements.

We identified regulations the provider was not complying with. They must:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

Full details of the regulation the provider is not meeting are at the end of this report.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:

• Implement audits for prescribing of antibiotic medicines taking into account the guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice.

• Improve the practice’s testing protocols for equipment used for cleaning used dental instruments taking into account guidelines issued by the Department of Health - Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices and having regard to The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. Specifically, validation tests for the washer disinfector.

We undertook a follow up desk based focused inspection of Smile for Life Dental Clinic on 16 March 2020.

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 carried out by a CQC inspector.

At our inspection on 13 January 2020 we found the registered provider was not providing well led care and was in breach of regulation 17 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 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 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 breach we found at our inspection on 13 January 2020.

Background

Smile for Life Dental Clinic is in Camberley and provides NHS and private dental care and treatment for adults and children.

There is level access to the practice for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces, including dedicated parking for disabled people, are available near the practice.

The dental team includes four dentists, five dental nurses, one dental hygienist, one dental hygiene therapist, two receptionists and a practice manager.

The practice has six treatment rooms of which four are in use.

The practice is owned by a partnership and as a condition of registration must have a person registered with the CQC 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 Smile for Life Dental Clinic is the area manager.

The practice is open:

• Monday 8am – 7pm
• Tuesday 8am – 5pm
• Wednesday 8am – 5pm
• Thursday 8am – 7pm
• Friday 8am – 5pm
• Saturday 9am – 3pm

Our key findings were:

• The provider’s infection control procedures reflected published guidance.
• The provider had systems to help them manage risk to patients and staff.
• The practice had effective clinical and management leadership.