Office 76

Updated 30 March 2022

Background

Office 76 is based in Consett and is the head office for Dencall 2005 Ltd.

Dencall 2005 Ltd provides out of hours urgent and emergency NHS dental care across North East England and Cumbria. It operates as part of the Dental Clinical Assessment Service (DCAS): skilled dental nurses from Dencall 2005 Ltd undertake triage of callers experiencing dental issues and ensure those in need of urgent care receive this within an appropriate timescale.

The Dencall 2005 Ltd team includes two directors, an operational lead, two operational managers, an office administrator, six DCAS dentists, 25 dental surgeons, 40 dental triage nurses and 20 dental nurses.

Dencall 2005 Ltd has four locations; this report is about Office 76.

Activities that take place in Office 76 include day-to-day management and operations, remote working of answering telephone calls for the on-call service, staff liaison and training events. Clinical and staff records are securely stored on-site.

Office 76 operating hours are Monday to Sunday: 24 hours a day.

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

• Implement an effective recruitment procedure to ensure that appropriate criminal record checks are completed prior to new staff commencing employment.

Updated 30 March 2022

We carried out this announced focused inspection on 15 February 2022 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 location 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).

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we usually ask five key questions, however due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and to reduce time spent on site, only the following three questions were asked:

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it well-led?

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

Updated 30 March 2022

Our findings were:

• Office 76 had systems to help them manage risk to patients and staff.
• Staff recruitment procedures were in line with current legislation, with the exception of criminal record checks.
• The appointment system took account of patients’ needs.
• There was effective leadership and a culture of continuous improvement.
• Staff felt involved and supported and worked as a team.
• Office 76 had information governance arrangements.