We carried out a comprehensive inspection of The Family Dental Practice on 23 January 2015.

CQC inspected the practice in 2013 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding infection prevention and control and quality monitoring. We judged these had a minor impact on patient care. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found these have been resolved.

The Family Dental Practice is situated near Burscough town centre. It offers both NHS and private dental care services to patients of all ages. The services provided include preventative advice and treatment and routine and restorative dental care. The principal dentist carries out conscious intravenous (IV) sedation both for patients who attend this practice and for patients who have been referred by other local dental practices.

The Family Dental Practice has one full time dentist and four part time dentists, seven dental nurses, a dental nurse trainee and a dental therapist. One of the dental nurses is currently covering the role of practice manager in addition to their clinical duties. Two dental nurses carry out extended duties in dental sedation and one in dental radiology (X-rays)

We spoke with three patients who used the service on the day of our inspection and reviewed 12 completed CQC comment cards. Patients we spoke with and those who completed comments cards were positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented staff were caring, helpful and respectful.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had systems to help ensure patient safety. These included safeguarding children and adults from abuse, maintaining the required standards of infection prevention and control and responding to medical emergencies.

• The practice carried out oral health assessments and planned treatment in line with current best practice guidance or example from the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP). Staff received training appropriate to their roles and told us they felt well supported to carry out their work.

• Patients told us they were treated with kindness and respect by staff. The practice provided conscious IV sedation to patients and staff were very knowledgeable about how to support patients who were nervous.

• Patients were able to make routine and emergency appointments when needed. There were clear instructions for patients regarding out of hours care.

• There were clearly defined leadership roles within the practice and staff told us they felt well supported and comfortable to raise concerns or make suggestions.

All patients we spoke with felt they were given enough information to make informed decisions around their treatment. One patient said, “Generally the practice is very good, time is always taken to explain things to me and I feel like I’m involved in the final decision for any treatment.”

Patients we spoke with were confident in their dentist’s ability to meet their dentistry needs. One patient said, “I’ve been coming here 15 years and am very happy with all the treatment I’ve had. The dentist goes above and beyond making me feel at ease.”

The decontamination room did not have its own cleaning schedule. When we discussed this with staff it was understood that when the dedicated decontamination nurse was on duty, the cleaning of the decontamination room was part of their role. We were given assurances by all staff and the senior practitioner that cleaning of the decontamination room took place regularly and routinely.

The patients we spoke with were all complementary about the staff. Compliments were received about all grades from the receptionist staff through to the senior dental staff. One patient said, “Everyone here knows their job, the place runs like clockwork.”

The provider may find it beneficial to review all risk assessments at a given point in time to ensure they remain relevant to the current practice policies and procedures.