We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 21 September 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

The New Tooth Company Implant Centre is situated in Bearstead, Maidstone in Kent. The practice provides specialist Implant services, patients interested in implants can attend the practice if they choose and the practice accepts referrals from other dentists. Services provided are wholly private and fees are displayed in the practice and on the website. The practice provides all the facilities required in a modern dental practice including digital radiographic equipment. Limited parking is available at the practice; however there is plenty of roadside parking close by.

The practice has three treatment rooms, a waiting area and a local decontamination unit. The waiting room is on the ground floor of the premises with one treatment room and the two treatment rooms on the first floor of the building.

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.

The practice is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.00pm. For emergency and out of hour’s assistance contact information is available from the practice telephone answering service and on the practice website.

We reviewed 52 CQC comment cards that had been left for patients to complete, prior to our visit, about the services provided. Eight patients also completed share your experience forms through the CQC website to inform us of their experiences of using the practice. Feedback from patients was positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented staff put them at ease, listened to their concerns and provided an excellent service they told us they had complete confidence in the dental care provided.

Our key findings were:

• There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.

• The treatment rooms were well organised and equipped, with good light and ventilation.

• There were systems to check all equipment had been serviced regularly, including the air compressor, autoclave, fire extinguishers, oxygen cylinder and the X-ray equipment.

• The practice carried out oral health assessments and planned treatment in line with current best practice guidance, for example, from UCL Eastman Dental Institute, the leading provider of these specialist services and the Cochran review papers.

• Patient dental care records were detailed and showed the recording of patients’ oral health.

• There were systems to help ensure the safety of staff and patients. These included safeguarding children and adults from abuse, maintaining the required standards of infection prevention and control and responding to medical emergencies.

• Staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.

• Staff were up to date with current guidelines and the practice was led by a proactive principal dentist / provider and practice manager.

• Staff were kind, caring, competent and put patients at ease.

• Patients commented they felt involved in their treatment and that it was fully explained to them. Common themes from the CQC comment cards were patients felt they received very good care in a clean environment from a helpful practice team.

• The dental practice had effective clinical governance and risk management processes; including health and safety and the management of medical emergencies.

•   The practice had a comprehensive system to monitor and continually improve the quality of the service; through a detailed programme of clinical and non clinical audits.