Updated 15 October 2019
We undertook a focused inspection of Townley Dental Centre on 27 September 2019. 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.
We had undertaken a comprehensive inspection 19 February 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 Townley Dental Centre 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 inspection we asked:
- Is it safe
- Is it well-led
Background
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
Background
Townley Dental Care is based in Upwell and offers private treatment to about 1,500 patients. The dental team is small, consisting of one dentist, two dental nurses and a receptionist. There is one treatment room. The practice is sited within the local health centre and shares some of its facilities.
There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs and a car park with specific spaces for patients with limited mobility.
The practice opens Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8am to 5pm; on Wednesdays from 8.30am to 4pm, and on Fridays from 8am to 12 noon.
The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal 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.
On the day of inspection, we collected 24 CQC comment cards filled in by patients and spoke with another thee patients.
During the inspection we spoke with the dentist, both nurses and the receptionist. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.
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.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:
- Review testing procedures for the practice’s ultrasonic bath and ensure regular foil and protein residue checks are completed.