We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 September 2015 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

Dental Practice is situated in the Parkhill area of Sheffield. The practice was taken over by the current owner in January 2015. It offers mainly NHS treatment to patients of all ages but also offers private dental treatments. The services provided included preventative advice and treatment, routine restorative dental care and orthodontics.

The practice has three surgeries, a decontamination room, two waiting areas, a reception area and toilet facilities. The reception area, one surgery and one waiting area are on the ground floor, the second waiting area is on the first floor along with two surgeries.

There are four dentists, five dental nurses, two receptionists, a practice supervisor and a practice manager.

The opening hours are Monday to Friday 8-30am to 6-00pm and Saturday 9-00am to 3-00pm.

The practice owner 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.

During the inspection we spoke with three patients who used the service and reviewed 14 completed CQC comment cards. Patients we spoke with and those who completed comment cards were positive about the care they received about the service.

Our key findings were:

• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• Patients were involved in making decisions about their treatment and were given clear explanations about their proposed treatment including costs, benefits and risks.
• The practice had an accessible and visible leadership team. Staff were supported to maintain their continuing professional development (CPD).
• Patients were able to make routine and emergency appointments when needed. There were clear instructions for patients regarding out of hours care.
• Oral health advice and treatment were provided in-line with the ‘Delivering Better Oral Health’ toolkit (DBOH).
• Patients were treated with care, respect and dignity.

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

• Take action to ensure that all treatment rooms and decontamination room conform to HTM 01-05 regulations.
• Review the practice's protocols for completion of dental records giving due regard to guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP) regarding clinical examinations and record keeping.
• Have local safeguarding contact details displayed for staff to reference
• Undertake a daily check on the Automated External Defibrillator
• Review the practice’s protocols for the use of rubber dam for root canal treatment giving due regard to guidelines issued by the British Endodontic Society
• Review the practices protocol for undertaking clinical record audits
• Follow the practices recruitment policy with regards to obtaining references for new staff