We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 11 May 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 this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

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

Are services caring?

We found this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Rock House Dental Practice is situated in the centre of the town with easy access to parking. This modern dental practice uses the latest techniques and state of the art equipment. The practice provides dental services to NHS and private patients and fees are displayed in information leaflets available in the practice for patients. The practice has five treatment rooms, two waiting rooms and a decontamination room. The practice has a team of clinicians with a variety of expertise and patients may see different clinicians for different parts of their treatment. The principal dentist does charitable work, he has travelled around the world offering dental services to people.

The practice has a principal dentist who is also 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.

The practice is open Monday - 9.00am to 7.30pm, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – 9.00am to 5.00pm, and Saturdays – 09.00am to 12.00pm. For emergency and out of hour’s assistance contact information is available from the practice telephone answering service.

We reviewed 41 CQC comment cards that had been left for patients to complete prior to our visit. In addition we spoke with five patients on the day of our inspection. Feedback from patients was positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented staff put them at ease, listened to their concerns and provided an excellent service, and that they had confidence in the dental care provided.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems in place to help ensure the safety of staff and patients. These included safeguarding children and adults from abuse, maintaining the required standards of infection prevention and control and responding to medical emergencies.

• The dental practice had effective clinical governance and risk management processes in place; including health and safety and the management of medical emergencies.

• The practice had a comprehensive system to monitor and continually improve the quality of the service; including through a detailed programme of clinical and non-clinical audits.

• Use of Loops –These enable the clinician to have a magnified view of the operation site thus enabling accuracy of treatment.

• The use of digital photography to explain treatments to patients while in the chair and manipulate images to show outcome of proposed treatment.

• Premises were well maintained and a tour of the building confirmed that good cleaning and infection control systems were in place. The treatment rooms were well organised and equipped, with good light and ventilation.

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

• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff who maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.

• The practice provided the option of sedation to patients and carried this out in line with guidelines from the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD).

• The practice had a written sedation and discharge protocol which was followed by staff.

• Staff were up to date with current guidelines and the practice was led by a proactive principal dentist.

• Staff were kind, caring, competent and put patients at their ease.

• Patients commented they felt involved in their treatment and that it was fully explained to them.

• Common themes from the CQC comment cards were patients felt they received excellent care in a clean environment from a helpful practice team.