We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 24 September 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.

Chris Bird Dental Care Limited provides NHS and private dental treatment. The majority of patients at the practice are private, 1800, and there were 560 NHS patients. The practice is situated in Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. Chris Bird Dental Care Limited has a principal dentist who works four days per week and a dental associate who works three days per week. The practice team includes a dental hygienist, two dental therapists, three dental nurses and a trainee dental nurse. The practice is supported by a practice manager and a business manager.

The practice has been built to the providers’ specification and had been subject to recent refurbishment. The treatment room surgeries are fully equipped and the airy reception area enables patient privacy with distance between the reception desk and the waiting room area. The reception area and waiting room are on the ground floor. The main entrance to reception is accessible to patients with restricted mobility. The practice has three dental treatment rooms, two to the ground floor and the other accessible via stairs to the first floor. The practice has a separate room which provides a spacious area for the decontamination and cleaning, sterilising and packing of dental instruments.

Before the inspection we sent Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards to the practice for patients to use to tell us about their experience of the practice. We collected 25 completed cards. These provided extremely positive views of the service the practice provides. Patients told us the practice was excellent and that the dentists were professional, caring, understanding of their anxieties, thorough and helpful and went above and beyond their expectations. Several patients specifically commented that the dentists put them at ease and had allayed their fears. We spoke with four staff members all understood the needs of their patients living with dementia illnesses and those with learning disabilities. They understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (2005).

The business is operated by a private limited company, Chris Bird Dental Care Limited. The practice has a registered manager with the CQC. 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.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had systems for dealing with significant events and accidents and staff understood their responsibilities for providing a safe service.

• The practice was visibly clean and had processes to help staff manage infection prevention and control effectively.

• The practice had systems, medicines and equipment for the management of medical emergencies and staff were trained to know how to deal with these.

• The practice had safeguarding processes and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children.

• Clinical records included the essential information expected about patients’ care and treatment including treatment plans and consent to care and treatment.

• The practice was committed to staff education and development. Staff received training appropriate to their roles and were encouraged and supported in their continued professional development (CPD).

• The practice received very few complaints but had a clear system for handling and responding to these.

• Patients who completed Care Quality Commission comment cards were pleased with the care and treatment they or their family member received and were complimentary about the whole practice team.

• The practice had well organised governance and leadership arrangements and an open door policy which made staff feel valued and listened to.

• The practice had open and supportive leadership and staff were happy in their roles, professional and enthusiastic.

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

• Record patients’ current GP details within the care records and consistently update the health promotion advice given to patients.

• Check the oxygen cylinder expiry date on a regular basis.

• Consider on recruitment staff vaccination histories in full, including rubella.

We arranged our visit over the telephone to ensure that relevant staff were available to talk with us.

We visited the service on 14 August 2012. We met with the practice manager and spoke with three dental nurses and the business manager. We were introduced to Mr Bird, the principle dentist at this surgery.

To enable us to obtain the views of the people who use this dental surgery we met with one person on the day of our visit and spoke with four other people over the telephone after our visit. Everyone was complimentary about the staff and the service provided. We were told the people had recommended the service to other family members and friends. People told us that the staff treated them with respect and were polite and friendly.

We asked people about consent to treatment and were told, "Staff take the time and trouble to always explain what the treatment is for and what the options are."

People told us that the dentist was good at giving advice regarding diet to help people care for their teeth. One person told us, "The dentist tells my children that drinking fizzy drinks is not good for your teeth." We saw a range of information leaflets about oral health and hygiene.

We saw that the dental treatment rooms and waiting areas were all clean and hygienic. All areas were clutter free and nicely furnished. There was a television in the waiting room which was showing dental information on the day of our visit. We were told that ocasionally at other times normal television programmes are shown for patient entertainment.

Staff we spoke with said that they were happy in their work and were knowledgeable about their daily duties. Records held at the dental surgery were well organised and had been updated as necessary.