We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 11 July 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

Hoghton Street Dental Practice is located in a four storey grade 2 listed building situated in Southport town centre. The practice has three dental treatment rooms, a waiting area, a reception area and a patient toilet on the ground floor of the premises. A further six treatment rooms, a second waiting area, an X-ray room and a dedicated decontamination room are situated on the first floor. The basement floor has storage rooms and a large staff room.

There is wheelchair access and disabled parking to the rear of the building and disabled toilet facilities on the ground floor. Patients with restricted mobility and families with pushchairs or young children were seen in one of the ground floor treatment rooms.

The Practice offers mainly NHS treatment (approximately 95%) to patients of all ages and some private dental care services. The services provided include preventative advice and treatment and routine and restorative dental care.

The practice has eight dentists, a dental hygienist, eight qualified dental nurses, two newly qualified dental nurses awaiting their GDC registration and two trainee dental nurses; in addition to five receptionists and a practice manager. The practice is open Monday to Friday from 9.00am until 5.30pm and on occasional Saturdays from 9.00am until 12.00pm.

The practice is a training practice for the Dental Foundation Training (DFT) scheme. DFT provides postgraduate dental education for newly qualified dentists in their first (foundation) year of practice; usually within general dental practices. The principal dentist is a trainer for the DFT scheme and provides clinical and educational supervision. The practice currently has one full time dentist who is in their first (foundation) year of practice.

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.

We viewed 27 CQC comment cards that had been left for patients to complete, prior to our visit, about the services provided. In addition we spoke with three patients on the day of our inspection. We reviewed patient feedback gathered by the practice over the last 12 months. Feedback from patients was positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented that staff put them at ease and listened to their concerns and that they had confidence in the dental services provided.

Our key findings were

• There were comprehensive systems in place to assess and manage risks to staff and patients. These included safeguarding children and adults from abuse, maintaining the required standards of infection prevention and control, staff recruitment and responding to medical emergencies.
• Staff were supported to maintain their continuing professional development (CPD), had undertaken training appropriate to their roles. Staff told us they felt well supported and comfortable to raise concerns or make suggestions.
• The practice had an accessible and visible leadership team with clear means of sharing information with staff.
• Dentists provided dental care in accordance with current professional and National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
• There were systems to monitor and continually improve the quality of the service; including a programme of clinical and non-clinical audits.
• Staff ensured there was sufficient time to explain fully the care and treatment they were providing in a way patients understood. Patients commented they felt involved in their treatment and that it was fully explained to them.
• Patients were able to make routine and emergency appointments when needed. There were clear instructions for patients regarding out of hours care.