We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on Hanford Dental Surgery 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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 8 October 2015 at Hanford Dental Surgery.

Dental services have been provided from the location by the current provider since 2009. The practice had been extensively refurbished in recent years and provides general dental services to both private and NHS patients. At the time of our inspection there were approximately 1,500 patients registered on a private basis and 3,000 patients registered on a NHS treatment basis. The practice offers dental implant surgery on site and accepts referrals from other practices for this intervention. Dental implants are titanium screws used to replace the roots of a tooth to support a false tooth. The principal dentist provided this service; they have undertaken post graduate training and received mentorship from an expert in the speciality.

The practice provides dental care and treatment to registered patients Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm (with lunchtime closing from 1pm to 2pm). Out of these hours patients with urgent dental needs are directed to contact either NHS 111 or the principal dentist depending on the basis of their treatment.

The practice has three dentists, one dental therapist, two qualified dental nurses and two trainee dental nurses within the clinical team. The practice manager is a qualified dental therapist and works with the principal dentist and other staff to oversee the day to day running of the practice. The practice is an approved training practice to support foundation dentists (FD) (qualified dentists in their first year of clinical practice) to gain experience under the mentorship of the principal dentist who is a FD trainer.

The provider holds two registrations with the Care Quality Commission to provide services from the practice. Our inspection looked at both as the provider told us that the governance and management of both registrations is the same. The provider is the principal dentist. Registered providers 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:

• Patients told us that their care and treatment was explained and they felt involved in decisions about their treatment.
• The appointments system met the needs of patients.
• Patients received clear explanations and written information about their proposed treatment, costs, benefits and risks and were involved in making decisions about them.
• The practice was well equipped to meet the needs of patients.
• The practice sought feedback from staff and patients about the services they provided.
• Staff were well trained and knowledgeable about their individual roles.

Our inspection was arranged with the provider two days in advance. This was to make sure that we had time to see and speak with staff working at the practice and with people registered with the practice.

During the inspection we spoke with the dentist, the dental therapist who was the registered manager, the practice manager and two dental nurses. We looked at a sample of dental records, written procedures, quality audits and two staff files. We spoke with four people at the surgery and contacted two people with children by telephone.

People told us they were very pleased with the quality of the service they received and said they felt involved in decisions about their dental care and treatment. People were given a treatment plan and were told of any costs before hand. People said they were given general oral care advice during their consultations.

People told us that they found the surgery clean and they said that the staff always wore protective equipment when they provided their treatment.

The provider sought the views of people that used the service. People had the opportunity to complete a survey and we saw that the results were analysed to identify any areas for improvement.

There were a number of systems in place to review and monitor the quality of the service although these were not always recorded. These included infection control audits, checks of the patient records and checks on the environment.