We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 11 August 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.

Background

1A Dental Practice-St Ives is a mixed dental practice providing both NHS and private treatment to children and adults. It has a standard NHS contract and offers general dentistry services to about 20,000 patients living primarily in the St Ives area. It is part of Integrated Dental Holdings Ltd (IDH) who have a large number of dental practices across the UK.

The practice employs six dentists (one of whom is a vocational trainer), and ten dental nurses. There are three dental hygienists who provide preventative advice and gum treatments. The practice has a full time practice manager 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.

The practice provides services on two floors and has a reception area on the ground floor. It is wheelchair accessible. The practice has seven dental treatment rooms and one decontamination rooms for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments.

We spoke with six patients and also received eight comments cards that had been completed by patients prior to our inspection. Most patients found the services provided by the practice to be good. They told us that it was easy to get an appointment at a time that suited them; that the dentists explained things in a way that they understood and that they received a treatment plan which outlined the costs. However two patients told us that their dentist never ran to time and another that the waiting room chairs were too low and uncomfortable, causing them pain to stand up from as a result of their disability.

Our key findings were:

• Staff reported incidents and kept records of these which the practice used for shared learning.

• The practice was clean and well maintained.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current best practice guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other published guidance.

• The practice had effective safeguarding processes in place and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.

• The practice placed an emphasis on the promotion of good oral health and provided regular oral health instruction to patients. Staff attended local primary schools to provide training sessions to pupils on good oral health.

• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD).

• The practice took into account any comments, concerns or complaints and used these to help them improve the practice.

• The practice manager was experienced, knowledgeable and clearly proud of the practice and her team. Staff felt well supported and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.