We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 2 February 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

This practice is situated in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. It offers mainly NHS treatment to patients of all ages but also offers private dental treatments. The services include preventative advice and treatment and routine restorative dental care. It also covers the NHS 111 service on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

The practice has four surgeries, a decontamination room with separate clean and dirty sections, an X-ray room, two waiting areas and a reception area. The reception area, one waiting area and two surgeries are on the ground floor. The other two surgeries, the X-ray room and the second waiting room are on the first floor. There are accessible toilet facilities on the ground floor of the premises.

There are four dentists, six dental nurses (including three trainees), a receptionist and two practice managers.

The opening hours are Monday to Friday from 8-45am to 5-15pm.

The practice managers are the registered managers. 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.

During the inspection we spoke with and received feedback from 23 patients. The patients were generally positive about the care and treatment they received at the practice. Comments included that the staff were courteous, professional and friendly. They also commented that the surgery was clean and that treatment was well explained.

Our key findings were:

• The surgeries were clean and hygienic.
• The practice had some systems in place to assess and manage risks to patients and staff including infection prevention, control and health and safety and the management of medical emergencies.
• Staff were qualified and had received training appropriate to their roles.
• Patients were involved in making decisions about their treatment and were given clear explanations about their proposed treatment including costs, benefits and risks.
• Oral health advice and treatment were provided in-line with the ‘Delivering Better Oral Health’ toolkit (DBOH).
• We observed that patients were treated with kindness and respect by staff. Staff ensured there was sufficient time to explain fully the care and treatment they were providing in a way patients understood.
• Patients were able to make routine and emergency appointments when needed.

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

• Review the practice’s sharps risk assessment.
• Conduct the X-ray audit for individual practitioners.
• Complete the Infection Prevention Society (IPS) audit on a six-monthly basis.
• Review the staffs’ awareness of the manually scrubbing of instruments.
• Review the dentists’ awareness of Gillick competency.

We spoke with three people who used the service they told us that they were very satisfied with the care and treatment they received at the practice.