We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 26 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 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

Willerby Dental Care Limited is located on Kingston Road, Willerby and provides dental treatment to NHS and private patients. The surgeries are all accessible by service users with restricted mobility. The practice is all on the ground floor and has ramp access at the front of the building. Car parking is available for three cars. The practice has a reception area, a waiting room, a decontamination room and separate sterilisation room connected by a hatch. There arepatient toilets , a staff room and office.

There are three dentists (the owner, and two associate dentists), a dental hygiene therapist and four dental nurses, one of which works on reception.

The practice is open:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 08:00 – 17:00

Tuesday 09:00 – 18:00

The principal dentist 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.

On the day of inspection we received 26 CQC comment cards providing feedback and spoke to three patients. The patients who provided feedback were very positive about the care and attention to treatment they received at the practice. They told us they were involved in all aspects of their care and found the staff to be polite, helpful, caring, and professional and they were treated with dignity and respect in a clean and tidy environment.

Our key findings were:

• Staff had received safeguarding training, knew how to recognise signs of abuse and how to report it.
• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified staff to meet the needs of patients.
• Staff had been trained to manage medical emergencies.
• Infection control procedures were in accordance with the published guidelines.
• Patient care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with evidence based guidelines, best practice and current regulations.
• Patients received clear explanations about their proposed treatment, costs, benefits and risks and were involved in making decisions about it.
• Patients were treated with dignity and respect and confidentiality was maintained.
• The appointment system met patients’ needs.
• The practice sought feedback from staff and patients about the services they provided.

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

• Review the weekly check protocol for the medical emergency drugs and equipment to ensure all equipment is in date and the recommended type.
• Review the practice protocol and ensure the practice implements a fire risk assessment.

• Review the practice’s protocol for undertaking audits of infection prevention and control, dental care records and X-rays at regular intervals to help improve the quality of service. The practice should also ensure all audits have documented learning points so the resulting improvements can be demonstrated.
• Review the complaints policy to make it accessible to patients, ensure all external agencies are referred to within the policy and time frames of when a response will be in place incorporated. Implement a process to track complaints more effectively. And ensure they have been responded to in line with the policy.
• Review the practice protocol for referrals ensuring adequate information is in place to treat patients’ requirements.
• Review the practice’s protocols for recording in the patients’ dental care records or elsewhere the reason for taking the X-ray and quality of the X-ray giving due regard to the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) 2000.

We visited the practice after receiving information in April 2013 of concern that could have meant patients were not being safeguarded from the risk of harm due to unprofessional practice. We interviewed the two dentist, the practice manager and three of the dental nurses to find out if there was or had been any risk to patients.

We found that everyone we spoke with was very clear there had been no incidents of an unprofessional nature in which patients had been involved. Everyone said they had no concerns about the practice and the way in which patients were treated when they visited.

We spoke with five patients after they had seen the dentist about their experience of visiting Willerby Dental Care Centre.

They said they signed appropriate documentation at the beginning of each visit, if necessary. They said they understood the treatment they were to be given and signed to consent to it going ahead.

They said they were satisfied with the treatment they had received. One patient said, "All of my family use this dentist." Another said, "It's very nice here, I never have any worries about coming." A third patient said, "I've never had to wait long to see the dentist. The place is very clean and the staff have good hygiene standards."

Patients could not remember being asked to complete patient satisfaction surveys, but their comments to us were all positive ones.