We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 16 June 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 not 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 not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Gravesend Dental Care provides general dentistry, such as treating tooth decay, gum disease and restorative dentistry. The practice provides private and NHS services for approximately 8,000 patients in Gravesend, Kent and the surrounding areas.

Gravesend Dental Care is part of the Southern Dental Limited privately owned group of NHS and private dental practices based within England.

The practice staff includes one practice manager, three dentists, one hygienist, three dental nurses and two receptionists. Dental services are provided Monday to Thursday between the hours of 9am and 6pm, and Fridays 8am to 4pm.

The practice manager 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.

Seventy five people provided feedback about the service. We looked at 73 patient comment cards where 68 comments were positive about the service patients experienced at Gravesend Dental Care. Patients indicated that they felt the practice offered an excellent service and staff were efficient, helpful and caring. They said that staff treated patients with dignity and respect. Patients had sufficient time during consultations with staff and felt listened to as well as safe. Five comments were less positive but there was no common theme to them.

Our key findings were:

The practice was providing effective, caring and responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

• There were systems to check equipment had been serviced regularly, including the compressor, autoclave, fire extinguishers, oxygen cylinder and the X-ray equipment.
• Dentists regularly assessed each patient’s gum health and took X-rays at appropriate intervals.
• Patients were provided with information and were involved in decision making about the care and treatment they received.
• The practice delivered personalised care to patients that took into account their individual needs.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

• Review the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols giving due regard to guidelines issued by the Department of Health – Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices and The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance’.
• Ensure a system of governance for documentation review.
• Ensure that action is planned and taken in response to results of internal audit activity.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

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

• Ensure that all staff are up to date with fire safety training and receive an annual appraisal.
• Ensure out of hours information displayed on the front of the building is clearly visible to patients.