Archived: Drakes Dental Care - Longridge

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 2 February 2017 to ask the practice the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

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 caring?

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

Are services responsive?

We found that this practice was providing responsive 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

Drakes dental care - Longridge practice provides all NHS treatments with the option for patients to have private work. The reception, waiting area and one surgery are located on the ground floor. A further waiting area, two surgeries and patient toilet are located on the upper floor. Parking is available on the nearby streets. The premises can accommodate wheelchair users.

The practice is open Monday to Thursday from 09:00 to 17:00 and Friday from 09:00 to 13.00.

The practice manager is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. 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.

We reviewed 19 CQC comment cards on the day of our visit; patients were extremely positive about the staff and standard of care provided by the practice. Patients commented that they were treated with dignity and respect treated in a clean and tidy environment by staff who were helpful and friendly.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had a proactive approach to governance and quality assurance.
• The practice used the outcome of audit and incidents to make improvements to the service.
• The practice was well organised, visibly clean and free from clutter.
• An infection prevention and control policy was in place. Sterilisation procedures followed Department of Health guidance.
• The practice had systems for recording incidents and accidents.
• Practice meetings were used for shared learning, training and to discuss the outcome of checks and audits.
• The practice had a safeguarding policy and staff were aware of 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 (UK).
• Dental professionals provided treatment in accordance with current professional guidelines.
• Patient feedback was regularly sought and patients informed of any changes made as a result of feedback.
• Patients could access urgent care when required.
• Dental professionals were maintaining their continuing professional development in accordance with their professional registration.
• Complaints were dealt with in an efficient and sensitive manner.
• The practice was actively involved in promoting oral health.
• Recruitment checks to ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable patients had not been undertaken for all staff.
• Restricting patients from accessing the decontamination room could not be ensured.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review the protocol for completing accurate and detailed records relating to employment of staff. This includes making appropriate notes of verbal references taken and ensuring recruitment checks, including references are suitably obtained and recorded.
• Review the arrangements for restricting access to the decontamination room.