We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 4 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

Oasis Dental Practice Burton-on-Trent is a mixed dental practice providing mainly NHS and some private treatment for both adults and children. The practice is situated in a converted commercial property. The practice provides services on three floors and had reception areas on the ground floor and first floor. The practice had seven dental treatment rooms and a separate decontamination room for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments.

The practice is open 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Thursday and 8:00am to 4:00pm Friday and on Saturday’s 8:00am to 2:00pm. The practice has 10 dentists who work a variety of hours and are supported by 15 dental nurses and four reception staff. The practice also has a dental hygienist who works one day per week.

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.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission comment cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. We received feedback from twenty six patients. These provided a completely positive view of the services the practice provides. All of the patients commented that the quality of care was very good.

Our key findings were:

• The practice manager and lead nurse were proud of the practice and their team. Staff felt well supported and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• The practice was visibly clean and well maintained.
• Infection control procedures were robust and the practice followed published guidance.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current professional guidelines
• The practice had effective safeguarding processes in place and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these that the practice used for shared learning.
• The practice had enough staff to deliver the service.
• The practice placed an emphasis on the promotion of good oral health and provided regular oral health instruction to patients.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).
• Information from 17 patients on the day of our visit gave us a completely positive picture of a friendly, professional service.
• The practice took into account any comments, concerns or complaints and used these to help them improve the practice.
• All complaints were dealt with in an open and transparent way by the practice manager if a mistake had been made.

We talked to people on the telephone before and after our visit and spoke with people waiting to receive treatment on the day of our visit. We spoke with a total of seven people who told us they were happy with the service they received. Two people told us they had used the service for a number of years and had had always been happy and not needed to raise any concerns. Other people we spoke with knew how to complain but never had cause to do so. People spoke positively about the service they received and comments included;

“The staff are very kind, they always tell you what’s going on.”

“They’re very accommodating in an emergency; they’ll always get you an appointment.”

“They tell me about my treatment, and I get a choice of what to do. They let me know what I have to pay before I decide.”

“The staff are very welcoming, I can’t fault them.”

The dental practice was on three floors. The main reception area was on the ground floor, where people were greeted, along with one surgery for people who required support with mobility, or had difficulty accessing floors on the upper levels. Other surgeries were located on the first and second floor.

People we spoke with said everything always looked clean and they were satisfied with the standards of cleanliness. They told us they saw staff washing their hands and using disposable gloves. People were provided with glasses to protect their eyes and aprons where any treatment was completed.