We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 06 June 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 this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Smiles Dental Epsom General & Specialist Dental Centre is a dental practice that is part of Oasis Dental Care. Oasis Dental Care Limited is a large corporate provider of dental services across England. The practice resides on one level giving access for patients using a wheelchair or mobility scooter. The services provided are NHS and private and fees are displayed on the practice website and in the information handbook available in the practice for patients. The practice has six treatment rooms, a waiting area, an x-ray room and a decontamination room.

The practice staffing consists of five general dentists and two specialist dentists that are registered as specialists with the General Dental Council (GDC). The team also included a dental hygienist, a qualified dental nurse, two trainee dental nurses and a team of four admin staff (including the practice manager). There is a larger support network that is located at headquarters in Bristol that provides support as part of the wider corporate management structure.

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 opening hours are Monday and Wednesday 8am to 8pm, Tuesday and Thursday 8am to 7pm, Friday 8am to 5.30pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm. For emergency and out of hour’s assistance contact information is available from the practice telephone answering service.

The inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a CQC inspector and a dental specialist advisor.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission (CQC) comments cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. Nine patients provided feedback about the service. All patients comments were positive about the care they received from the practice. They were complimentary about the friendly and caring attitude of the dental staff.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems in place 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.

• The dental practice had effective clinical governance and risk management processes in place; 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; including through a detailed programme of clinical and non-clinical audits.

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

• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff who 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 practice manager.

• Most patients commented they felt involved in their treatment and that it was fully explained to them; some had commented they felt the dentist had not spent enough time with them.

• Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand.

We visited James Hull Dental Care Epsom to look at the care and treatment provided to people who used the service. During our inspection we spoke with four people and six of the staff that were present. We observed two treatment sessions and looked at four patient files.

People we spoke with were very happy with the service. One person told us “I am very pleased with the work they do here” Another person said “The dentist I saw was very gentle, I didn’t feel a thing.” A third person told us “Everyone is so polite. They are really good with my kids as well.”

People told us that they felt respected by staff, and were involved in decisions about their treatment. One person told us “You’re treated as a person here, not a number.” Another person told us “They take the time to explain things and I can ask questions."

People told us they were able to get treatment when they needed it, for example in the case of emergencies. We saw that medical histories were reviewed with each person before they received treatment.

The people we spoke with told us they felt safe with the staff.

We saw that the practice was clean and well maintained. People we spoke with were satisfied with the standard of cleanliness.

We saw that records of qualifications, criminal record checks and professional registrations were up to date.

Complaints were recorded and action was taken to resolve them. Records of patient feedback showed that people were happy with the service.