We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 26 January 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

Stone Cross Dental Practice which is part of the Southern Dental Group provides predominately NHS dental services with private treatment options available for patients. The premises consist of a waiting area, three treatment rooms, staff area and a reception area. The practice has a separate decontamination room.

The staff at the practice consist of two dentists’, a hygienist, two dental nurses’, two receptionists and a practice manager who is also a registered dental nurse.

The business 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.

Before our inspection we supplied Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards for patients to complete. We collected 16 completed comment cards. 11 cards were positive; the themes were that patients were treated kindly, staff were helpful and treatment received was of a high standard. 5 cards were less positive and related to the lack of access due to the two dentists not being available which had made it difficult to obtain an appointment. We also reviewed feedback from patients who had completed the ‘Friends and Family Test’ and spoke to nine patients following our inspection and found that the feedback was positive mostly, however patients mentioned that they had found it difficult to see a dentist as the dentists were often not there.

Our key findings were:

• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these to enable the practice to learn and improve.
• The practice was generally clean but there were areas that needed improvement.
• The equipment had been maintained to a sufficient standard but records of checks and maintenance were not available for some pieces of equipment. These were provided to us following our inspection.
• Mandatory training had lapsed for medical emergencies. But arranged and completed shortly after our inspection
• Staff files were incomplete and appropriate checks had not been carried out before the appointment of new staff. However we received these following our inspection.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other published guidance.
• The practice had effective safeguarding processes and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• The practice took into account any comments, concerns or complaints.
• Patients were pleased with the care and treatment they received and complimentary about the dentists and all other members of the practice team.