We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 6th March 2017 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

Pentangle Dental Transformations is a dental practice owned by the corporate dental provider BUPA providing specialised private dental treatment for both adults and children on referral only. The practice is based in purpose built premises in Newbury, Berkshire.

The practice has 4 dental treatment rooms, one of which is based on the ground floor with a further three on the first floor. There are dedicated decontamination areas on both floors which are used for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments. The ground floor is accessible to wheelchair users, prams and patients with limited mobility.

The practice employs 6 dentists, 1 dental hygienist, 5 dental nurses, 4 receptionist staff and a practice manager.

The practice’s opening hours are between 8:30am and 5pm from Monday to Friday.

There are arrangements in place to ensure patients receive urgent medical assistance when the practice is closed. This is provided by three of the dentists on a rota basis. Their mobile telephone numbers are set up daily on the Practice answerphone.

The practice manager is the registered manager A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC 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.

Before the inspection, we sent CQC comment cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell us about their experience of the practice. We received feedback from eighteen patients which included sixteen CQC feedback cards. These provided a positive view of the services the practice provides.

Patients commented on the high quality of care, the caring nature of all staff, the cleanliness of the practice and the overall high quality of customer care.

We obtained the views of two patients on the day of our inspection.

Our key findings were:

• We found that the practice ethos was to provide patient centred dental care in a relaxed and friendly environment.
• Effective leadership was provided by senior clinicians and an empowered practice manager.
• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies, and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• The practice appeared clean and well maintained.
• There was appropriate equipment for staff to undertake their duties, and equipment was well maintained.
• Infection control procedures were effective and the practice followed published guidance.
• The practice had a safeguarding lead with effective processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• There was a process in place for the reporting and shared learning when untoward incidents occurred in the practice.
• Dentists provided dental care in accordance with current professional and National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
• The service was aware of the needs of the local population and took these into account in how the practice was run.
• Patients could access treatment and urgent and emergency care when required.
• Staff received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD) by the company.
• Staff we spoke with felt well supported by the senior clinicians and practice manager and were committed to providing a quality service to their patients.
• Patient feedback before and during our inspection gave us a positive picture of a friendly, caring, professional and high quality service.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review the security of the ground floor local decontamination unit (LDU).
• Review storage of cleaning equipment in line with HTM01-05
• Review appropriate storage of local anaesthetic cartridges in surgery drawers.
• Consider installing a hearing induction loop at the main reception desk.
• Implement an ongoing audit of radiographs as required by the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2000.