Archived: Tooth Booth Epping

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 27 July 2016 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

Tooth Booth – Epping is situated in a purpose converted building in Epping High Street, Essex.

The practice has three treatment rooms and a combined patient waiting and reception area. Decontamination takes place in a dedicated decontamination room (Decontamination is the process by which dirty and contaminated instruments are bought from the treatment room, washed, inspected, sterilised and sealed in pouches ready for use again).

The dental provider is registered as an organisation. At the time of our inspection there was no registered manager for the practice. 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. Health and social care providers who are not registered as individuals are required to have a registered manager.

Two dentists, two dental nurses, one hygienist, a practice manager and two receptionists are employed at the practice.

The practice offers NHS and private general and cosmetic dental treatments to adults and children. The opening hours of the practice are 8.30am to 5.30pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The practice is open up to 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings and between 8.30am to 1pm on Saturdays.

We left comment cards at the practice for the two weeks preceding the inspection. Three people provided feedback about the service in this way. All of the comments made indicated that patients were very happy with the dental care and treatment that they received and the care and compassion shown by the dentists and dental nurses.

Our key findings were:

• There was an effective complaints system and learning from complaints, accidents and other incidents was used to make improvements where this was required.
• The practice was visibly clean and clutter free and Infection control practices met national guidance.
• There were a number of systems in place to help keep people safe, including safeguarding vulnerable children and adults.
• Dental care and treatments were carried out in line with current legislation and guidelines. Patients reported that they were received excellent dental care and staff were understanding, polite and helpful.
• Patients were involved in making decisions about their care and treatments.
• The practice provided a flexible appointments system and could normally arrange a routine appointment within a few days or emergency appointments mostly on the same day.
• The practice kept appropriate medicines and equipment for use in medical emergencies. There were systems for checking these to ensure that they were stored correctly, available in sufficient quantities and in date.
• There was appropriate equipment for staff to undertake their duties, and equipment was well maintained.
• Governance arrangements were in place for the smooth running of the service and there were systems in place for monitoring areas such as the quality of patient records, X-rays and staff training.
• Patient’s views were sought and used to make improvements to the service where these were identified.

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

• Review the procedures for assessing and monitoring risks to include a health and risk assessment.
• Review the security of prescription pads in the practice and ensure there are systems in place to monitor and track their use.
• Submit an application to CQC for a relevant person to be registered as the manager for the service.