We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 14 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

GHB Dental Practice is situated in the Greenhill area of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. It offers private dental treatments to adults and NHS dental treatments to children under 18. The services include preventative advice and treatment and routine restorative dental care. They also offer domiciliary visits to their own patients for denture work. It has been a well-established practice for over 50 years and the current providers have owned the practice since 2012.

The practice has four surgeries, a decontamination room, an X-ray room, a waiting area and a reception area. The reception area, waiting area and two surgeries are on the ground floor. The other two surgeries and the X-ray room are on the first floor. There are accessible toilet facilities on the ground floor of the premises.

There are three dentists, a dental hygiene therapist, eight qualified dental nurses (who also cover reception duties) and a practice manager (who is also a qualified dental nurse).

The opening hours are Monday from 9-00am to 5-30pm, Tuesday from 9-00am to 6-30pm, Wednesday and Thursday from 8-30 to 5-30pm and Friday from 9-00am to 4-30pm.

One of the practice owners 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 received feedback from 63 patients. The patients were positive about the care and treatment they received at the practice. Comments included that the premises were clean and hygienic and that staff were caring, respectful and professional. Patients also commented that the dentists explain what the procedures entail before they begin.

Our key findings were:

• The practice appeared clean and hygienic.
• The practice had systems in place to assess and manage risks to patients and staff including infection prevention, control and health and safety and the management of medical emergencies.
• Staff were qualified and 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.
• Oral health advice and treatment were provided in-line with the ‘Delivering Better Oral Health’ toolkit (DBOH).
• We observed that patients were treated with kindness and respect by staff. Staff ensured there was sufficient time to explain fully the care and treatment they were providing in a way patients understood.
• The practice had a complaints system in place and there was an openness and transparency in how these were dealt with.
• Patients were able to make routine and emergency appointments when needed.
• The governance systems were effective.

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

• Review the practice’s protocols for domiciliary visits, giving due regard to 2009 guidelines published by British Society for Disability and Oral Health in the document “Guidelines for the Delivery of a Domiciliary Oral Healthcare Service”.

We spoke with people who were positive about their experience of being treated at the practice. One person said: “I enjoy coming here, and not many people can say that about their dentist.” Another person told us that they were “always very happy” with their treatment.

People were given appropriate information and support regarding their care or treatment. Written treatment plans were provided, which explained details of people’s planned treatment. One person told us that the dentist always explained their treatment to them in a way that was easy to understand.

There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection. The dental practice had dedicated decontamination and sterilisation facilities, and a staff member responsible for decontamination and sterilisation activities.

The practice had an extremely low staff turnover, and recruitment took place infrequently. However, the recruitment system had been designed to ensure that when recruitment did take place it was effective.

Audits were regularly undertaken, looking at a range of aspects of service delivery. Where audits identified areas for improvement, action plans were devised and implemented. The practice manager said that they were responsible for following up audits to ensure action had been taken.