We carried out an unannounced responsive inspection on 23 February 2017 to ask the practice the following key question; Are services effective?

Our findings were:

Are services effective?

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

Background

The Integrated Care Centre is located in Oldham and is part of the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Clinics serve patients of all ages who need specialised dental care that are not available in general dental practices. The service includes oral health care and dental treatment provision for patients with an impairment, disability and/or complex medical condition. This provision extends to patients with a physical, sensory, intellectual, mental, medical, emotional or social impairment or a disability including those who are housebound and homeless.

The service offers conscious sedation when treatment under local anaesthetic alone is not feasible. Any patients who require general anaesthetics are triaged here to ensure all treatment is appropriate before sending for the general anaesthetic appointment. General anaesthesia (GA) services are provided in partnership with local NHS trusts as necessary for extremely nervous patients with individual needs and patients who need multiple extractions.

The practice has nine treatment rooms (all accessible and large enough to accommodate a wheelchair), a waiting area, a reception area, an X-ray room, a sterilisation room and a decontamination room and a store room.

There is a multi-disciplinary team including specialist dentists, senior dental officers, dental hygiene therapists, senior dental nurses, dental nurses and a full team of support through the organisation structure

The organisation has a designated 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.

Our key findings were:

• We found staff to be hard working, caring and committed to the care and treatment they provided. Staff spoke with passion about their work and conveyed their dedication in what they did.
• Staff had been trained to handle medical emergencies. Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were readily available and in accordance with current guidelines.
• Appropriately trained nurses supported the dentists carrying out sedation on each occasion.
• We found clinical staff delivered care according to current guidelines in relation to dentistry; this included special care dentistry, conscious sedation and preventive dental care.
• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff to meet the needs of patients.
• Arrangements were in place to ensure staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and applied these requirements when delivering care.
• Treatment was well planned and provided in line with current guidelines.
• Patients were treated with dignity and respect and confidentiality was maintained.
• The appointment system met patients’ needs.
• The service was aware of the needs of the local population and took these into account in how the practice was run.