We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 11 November 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

Sherwood Dental Centre was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 4 September 2015. This was following a change in the ownership arrangements at the practice. Sherwood Dental Centre is registered to provide regulated dental services to patients in north Nottingham and the surrounding areas. The practice provides both NHS and private dental treatment, with the most being NHS. Services provided include general dentistry, dental hygiene, crowns and bridges, and root canal treatment.

The practice is open: Monday to Wednesday: from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm; Thursday: from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm; and Friday 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

Access for urgent treatment outside of opening hours is through the NHS 111 telephone line.

The practice has four dentists; two dental hygienists; and five dental nurses, one of whom was a trainee dental nurse. There is a practice manager, three receptionists, and an administration assistant.

The principal dentist is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (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.

We received feedback from 25 patients about the services provided. We saw that most of the feedback was positive, with only two negative comments. These related to the difficulty to access the practice with a pushchair, and a patient’s dissatisfaction with the methods of payment available. All patients said they were happy with the service provided, and spoke positively about their clinical experience at this dental practice.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had effective systems to record accidents, significant events and complaints.
• Learning from any complaints and significant incidents were recorded and learning was shared with staff.
• All staff had received whistle blowing training and were aware of these procedures and the actions required.
• Patients provided positive feedback about the dental service.
• Patients said they were treated with dignity and respect.
• Records showed there were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff to meet the needs of patients.
• Staff had been trained to deal with medical emergencies.
• Emergency medicines, an automated external defibrillator (AED) and oxygen were readily available. An AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses life threatening irregularities of the heart and delivers an electrical shock to attempt to restore a normal heart rhythm.
• The practice followed the relevant guidance from the Department of Health's: ‘Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 (HTM 01-05) for infection control.
• Patients’ care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
• Patients were involved in making decisions about their treatment, and were able to ask questions.
• Options for treatment were identified and explored and discussed with patients.
• Patients’ confidentiality was maintained.

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

• Make arrangements for the legionella risk assessment to be repeated.
• Check the X-ray machines in the practice to see if rectangular collimation is fitted, as recommended by the Ionising Radiation Regulations (Medical Exposure) Regulations (2000).
• Make arrangements to display the instructions beside the sharps bins, as recommended in the Health and safety (sharp instruments in healthcare) regulations 2013.