We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 12 September 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 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

St. Paul’s Dental Care

offers private treatment to adult pa

tients; with dental treatment

free of charge to

children up to the age of six and thereafter examinations are free up to the age of seventeen. The services provided include preventative advice and treatment and routine and restorative dental care. The practice has three dentists, two hygienists, twelve qualified dental nurses, in addition to a practice manager and two receptionists. A fourth dentist is due to commence with the practice in October 2016.

The practice is located in Southport, close to the town centre. The practice has four dental treatment rooms, a hygienist’s room, a dedicated decontamination room, a waiting room and a reception area; in addition to office and storage facilities. There is access for patients with restricted mobility and families with pushchairs or young children; with treatment available in one of the ground floor treatment rooms.

Opening hours for the practice are Monday, Thursday and Friday 8.30am to 6.00pm, Tuesday and Wednesday 8.30am to 7.00pm, Saturday 9.00am to 12pm.

The practice manager 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.

Ten patients provided feedback to us about the service and we reviewed patient feedback gathered by the practice over the last 12 months. Feedback from patients was overwhelmingly positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented staff were caring and respectful and that they had confidence in the dental services provided. Patients told us they had no difficulties in arranging routine and emergency appointments and staff put them at ease and listened to their concerns.

Our key findings were:

• Patients we spoke with and who completed CQC comments cards were positive about how clean the practice was.
• We found the practice ethos was to provide patient centred dental care in a relaxed and friendly environment.
• Strong and effective leadership was provided by the principal dentists and an empowered practice manager. Staff told us they felt well supported and comfortable to raise concerns or make suggestions.
• The practice had systems to assess and manage risks to patients, including infection prevention and control, health and safety, safeguarding, recruitment and the management of medical emergencies.
• Patients commented they felt involved in their treatment and that it was fully explained to them.
• The practice had a safeguarding lead with effective processes in place for safeguarding adults and children living in vulnerable circumstances.
• The practice had a system in place for reporting incidents which the practice used for shared learning.
• There were systems to monitor and continually improve the quality of the service; including a programme of clinical and non-clinical audits.
• Dentists provided dental care in accordance with current professional and National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
• Patients could access treatment and urgent and emergency care when required. There were clear instructions for patients regarding out of hours care.
• Staff recruitment files were organised and complete.
• Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and were supported in their continued professional development (CPD) by the practice owners and practice manager.