Eight Ash Green Dental Surgery

We carried out this announced inspection on 3 September 2021 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.

As part of this inspection we 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.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found this practice was not 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 well-led?

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

Background

Eight Ash Green Dental Surgery is in Eight Ash Green, Colchester, Essex and provides 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 are available at the side of the practice.

The dental team includes one dentist and one dental nurse. The practice has one treatment room.

The practice is owned by an individual who is the principal dentist there. They have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run.

During the inspection we spoke with one dentist and the dental nurse. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

The practice is open: Thursday and Friday from 9am to 6pm, Saturday from 9am to 1pm.

Our key findings were:

• The practice appeared to be visibly clean and well-maintained.
• Staff had not received recent emergency resuscitation and basic life support training; we were not assured they all knew how to deal with medical emergencies. Following the inspection, we were assured all staff had completed this training.
• Not all the appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were available.
• Following the inspection we were provided evidence that systems were in place to ensure equipment used to decontaminate instruments was maintained in accordance with manufacturers guidance.
• The provider had safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children. Not all safeguarding information was accessible for staff.Following the inspection, we were assured this was in place.
• 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.
• There were no details of Disclosure and Barring Service checks for one member of staff and no recruitment information was available for review at the practice. Following the inspection we were provided information to confirm these were in place.
• Staff felt involved and supported.
• The provider asked staff and patients for feedback about the services they provided.
• The provider dealt with complaints positively and efficiently.
• Staff provided preventive care and supported patients to ensure better oral health.
• The appointment system took account of patients’ needs.

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

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

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

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

• Implement systems for environmental cleaning taking into account the guidelines issued by the Department of Health - Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices. In particular; ensure logs of both decontamination cleaning and processes and environmental cleaning are put in place.