We carry out a follow up inspection of Woodingdean Dental Practice on 12 September 2016. We had undertaken an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 30 June 2015 as part of our regulatory functions and during this inspection we found a breach of the legal requirements.

After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

We checked whether they had followed their action plan to confirm that they now met the legal requirements.

We reviewed the practice against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well-led?

We have not revisited Woodingdean Dental Practice as part of this review because the practice was able to demonstrate that they were meeting the standards without the need for a visit.

A copy of the report from our last comprehensive inspection can be found by selecting the 'all reports' link for Woodingdean Dental Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Our findings were:

Are services well-led?

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

Background

Woodingdean Dental Practice is a general dental practice in Woodingdean, East Sussex, offering NHS and private dental treatment to adults and children. The practice also offers domiciliary care to patients in their own homes and to residents at a local nursing home.

The premises consists of a waiting area adjacent to the reception desk and two treatment rooms (one of which is currently decommissioned). There is also a separate decontamination room.

The staff at the practice consist of the provider (a dentist), a trainee dental nurse, two part time receptionists and a part time administrator who is a practice manager at another practice.

Our key findings were:

• The practice established an effective system to maintain patients’ dental care records appropriately.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 June 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 not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Woodingdean Dental Practice is a general dental practice in Woodingdean, East Sussex offering NHS and private dental treatment to adults and children. The practice also offers domiciliary care to patients in their own homes and to residents at a local nursing home.

The premises consists of a waiting area adjacent to the reception desk and two treatment rooms (one of which is currently decommissioned). There is also a separate decontamination room.

The staff at the practice consist of the provider (a dentist), a trainee dental nurse, two part time receptionists and a part time administrator who is a practice manager at another practice.

Our key findings were:

• There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection. We found the treatment room, decontamination room and equipment appeared very clean.

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

• Staff demonstrated knowledge of the practice whistleblowing policy and were confident they would raise a concern about another staff member’s performance if it was necessary.

• The practice ensured staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.

• At our visit we observed staff were kind, caring and put patients at their ease.

• We reviewed 38 comment cards that had been completed by patients. Common themes were patients felt they received very good service from a helpful and friendly practice team in a clean environment.

• There was an effective system in place to act on feedback received from patients and staff.

• Patients’ dental care records we reviewed did not provide a full and accurate account of the care and treatment they had received.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

• Maintain an accurate, complete and contemporaneous record in respect of each patient, including a record of the care and treatment provided to the patient and of decisions taken in relation to the care and treatment provided.

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

• Review the guidance issued by the Faculty of General Practice (FGDP) namely ‘Selection Criteria for dental Radiography’ in considering when to take dental X-rays.

During our inspection we spoke with five patients. We spoke with four members of staff; these were the dentist, the deputy manager, the dental nurse, and the receptionist.

We also took information from other sources to help us understand the views of patients who used the service, which included a patient satisfaction survey and staff meeting minutes.

The patients we spoke with told us they thought they received good dental treatment from the dentist. One patient told us “This is a fantastic dentist they are really good with me”. Another patient told us “I choose to come to this dentist specifically and I have to travel to get here, as I live quite far away”.

The practice was following appropriate guidance in relation to infection control and the staff were well trained and supported. A member of staff we spoke with told us “The systems we use for decontamination are good here”.

The practice had systems in place to assess and monitor the service and effectively deal with complaints when necessary.