We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 December 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 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

Oasis Dental Care Bridlington is located on the outskirts of Bridlington, Humberside. There are three ground and three first floor surgeries. There is one main reception area and two waiting areas for both ground and first floor surgeries. There are three dentists, a practice manager, a practice coordinator and six dental nurses (one of which is a trainee) and two receptionists. Parking is available at the practice.

The practice offers a mix of NHS and private dental treatments. The services include preventative advice and routine restorative dental care.

The practice is open:

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 08:00 – 19:00

Tuesday and Friday 08:00 – 17:30

The practice manager is the registered manager. On the day of the inspection the registered manager was away from the practice so the practice coordinator, who was covering, was available. 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

On the day of inspection we received 16 CQC comment cards providing feedback and spoke with six patients. The patients who provided feedback were positive about the care and treatment they received at the practice. They told us they were involved in all aspects of their care and found the staff to be friendly, professional, polite and caring and they were treated with dignity and respect in a clean and tidy environment.

Our key findings were:

• Staff had received safeguarding training, knew how to recognise signs of abuse and how to report it.
• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff to meet the needs of patients.
• Staff had been trained to manage medical emergencies.
• Infection control procedures were in accordance with the published guidelines.
• Patient care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with evidence based guidelines, best practice and current regulations.
• Patients received clear explanations about their proposed treatment, costs, benefits and risks and were involved in making decisions about it.
• Patients were treated with dignity and respect and confidentiality was maintained.
• The appointment system met patients’ needs.
• There was a complaints system in place. Staff recorded complaints and cascaded learning to staff.
• The practice sought feedback from staff and patients about the services they provided.

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

• Review the practice’s protocols for recording in the patients’ dental care records or elsewhere the reason for taking the X-ray and quality of the X-ray giving due regard to the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) 2000.
• Review the practice's awareness for completion of dental care records giving due regard to guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice regarding clinical examinations and record keeping.
• Review the practice’s awareness of the ‘Delivering Better Oral Health’ toolkit.
• Review the practice’s testing procedures for autoclaves and subsequent recording process.
• Review the action points from the legionella risk assessment have been addressed and reviewed as required.
• Review audits of various aspects of the service, such as radiography, infection prevention and control and dental care records are undertaken within the guidelines to help improve the quality of service. The practice should also review all audits have documented learning points and the resulting improvements can be demonstrated.
• Implement a plan as to how and when the practice will achieve best practice, 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.
• Review the protocol for receiving, sharing and acknowledging alerts by e-mail from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK’s regulator of medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion, responsible for ensuring their safety, quality and effectiveness.

Oasis Dental Care was a purpose built practice with five dentists, six dental nurses and three receptionists. We were able to speak with the practice manager, one dental nurse and two receptionists during our visit. We also spoke with one patient who attended for an appointment.

The patient who spoke with us told us that they were very happy with the care and treatment they received and they had confidence in the staff. This person told us “The service is friendly and relaxed and I am not nervous at all about receiving any treatment or care from the dentist.”

The patient who spoke with us told us that they were impressed with the efficient and friendly service and they felt the hygiene and cleanliness of the practice was "Excellent".