We carried out this announced inspection on 17 May 2018 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 CQC inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it caring?

• Is it responsive to people’s needs?

• 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 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

Pure Dental Centre is near Barnstaple and provides private treatment to mainly adults. The practice staff also treat the young children of parents registered with the practice.

There is level access for people who use wheelchairs and those with pushchairs. Car parking spaces are available at the practice.

The dental team includes four dentists, three dental hygienists and eleven dental nurses/receptionists. The practice has four treatment rooms.

The practice is owned by a company and as a condition of registration must have a person registered with the Care Quality Commission as the registered manager. Registered managers have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the practice is run. The registered manager at Pure Dental Centre was one of the dentists.

For the inspection we collected feedback from 177 patients in the form of CQC comment cards and electronic surveys. We spoke with one additional patient on the day of the inspection. Patient feedback gave us a positive view of the practice.

During the inspection we spoke with three dentists, one dental hygienist and a number of dental nurses/receptionists. We looked at practice policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

The practice is open: Monday to Friday 8:30am – 5pm.

Our key findings were:

• The practice appeared clean and well maintained.
• The practice had infection control procedures which reflected published guidance.
• Staff knew how to deal with emergencies. Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were available.
• The practice had systems to help them manage risk.
• The practice had suitable safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children.
• The practice had thorough staff recruitment procedures.
• 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.
• The practice was providing preventive care and supporting patients to ensure better oral health.
• The appointment system met patients’ needs.
• The practice had effective leadership and culture of continuous improvement.
• Staff felt involved and supported and worked well as a team.
• The practice asked staff and patients for feedback about the services they provided.
• The practice dealt with complaints positively and efficiently.
• The practice had suitable information governance arrangements.

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

• Review risk assessments for the siting of sharps containers in the treatment rooms and take any remedial action as a result of any revised assessment.
• Ensure that all unsupervised areas potentially posing risks to patients have adequate locks fitted to doors.

We carried out a routine inspection of Pure Dental Centre on 18 April 2013. We looked at four people’s records in detail and spoke with them after the consultation. We met three people who attended appointments and spoke with a further seven people over the telephone about their experiences of treatment at the practice.

People made positive comments about their experiences. These included: “I have full faith in my dentist”, “It was all very relaxed and I didn’t feel uncomfortable or nervous” and “The atmosphere is a joyous one; all the staff enjoy working for the partners and they engage with people as a result of this”.

People told us that the dental practice had discussed treatments with them, and provided an estimate of costs about the treatment available to them. For example, one person told us “it was all made very clear about the price of treatment and I didn’t feel pressured”.

People were safe and we saw that the practice followed strict procedures to protect vulnerable people, in particular when treating children.

People told us that the environment was “spotless” and they were “very impressed with the equipment, cleanliness and turn out of staff”.

We made no compliance actions at this inspection. However, we did highlight the provider may find it useful to note that the access to decontamination areas could be made more secure to prevent potential risks to people using the service.