We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The East Hull Dental Centre on 20 May 2015. The East Hull Dental Centre is a general dental practice situated to the east of the City of Hull offering both NHS and private treatment to patients. The practice treats adults and children.

The ground floor premises consist of a reception area, a patient waiting area and three treatment rooms, a further six treatment rooms and a second patient waiting area were situated on the first floor which was accessible via a staircase. Patients with special mobility requirements were treated on the lower ground floor which had full wheelchair access. Patient facilities were available on both floors and had easy access. There was also a separate decontamination room. There were also a staff changing room and facilities and a general office sited on the top floor.

The practice provides dental services to approx.18,000 patients who were a mix of adults and children.. The practice was founded by the practice owner and has been a family run practice for over 25 years. The staff structure of the practice consists of eight dentists, a practice manager (who is also the practice Director), 10 dental nurses, one therapist, one orthodontist and three reception staff. The practice opening times are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday with late night opening until 6.00pm on a Thursday.

The Practice Manager/Director 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 spoke with six patients on the day of our inspection and they were very positive about the care and treatment they had received. Patients felt the dentists took time to explain care and treatment options in a way they understood. Common themes were patients felt they received good care and staff provided a welcoming and caring service.

Our key findings were:

We found that this practice was providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

• There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection. We found all treatment rooms and equipment appeared very clean.

• There were systems in place to check all equipment had been serviced regularly, including the suction compressor, autoclave, fire extinguishers, oxygen cylinder and the X-ray equipment.

• We found the dentists regularly assessed each patient’s gum health and took X-rays at appropriate intervals.

• The practice ensured staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients. However, Mental Capacity Act training had not been completed for all staff.

• The practice kept up to date with current guidelines and was led by a proactive and forward thinking management team.

• At our visit we observed staff were caring, compassionate, competent and put patients at their ease.

• We spoke with six patients on the day of our visit. Common themes were patients felt they received professional, caring and compassionate care in a very friendly and clean environment.

However, there were areas where the provider could make improvements, the provider should:

• Ensure Mental Capacity Act (2005) training is completed by all staff.
• Ensure clinical waste bins are locked and secure at all times.
• Records of infection control audits identified that hand hygiene training had not been provided to staff periodically throughout the year. No further action had been taken although the occurrence had been identified on four separate occasions.

Introduce closer links with local safeguarding teams in order to review potential children and vulnerable safeguarding concerns identified through continual non-attendance of appointments.

We spoke with seven people whilst they were waiting to see the dentist and they confirmed they always completed consent forms prior to any treatment and options were discussed too. Comments included, “They always explain", "I've been coming about 20 years and I think it's a good dentist" and "I always sign and give me consent."

People who used the service told us they had been fully informed of their treatment options and had received a plan that explained what treatment would be carried out. They told us staff were polite and helpful and that appointments for a check up were usually around 6 months. We saw evidence which confirmed this on people’s records.

People spoken with told us they thought the dental surgery was clean and hygienic. They also stated that on each visit the dentist and dental nurses had worn personal protective equipment such as face masks, glasses and gloves. They had also been given their own eye protection glasses and protective bib.

We saw there was a complaint procedure and this was displayed in the waiting room and we saw numerous thank you cards and comments included, "Very kind and considerate", "What a fantastic surgery", "Really good and my dentist is really nice" and "The practice is always nice and clean."