Archived: Hanwell Dental Centre

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 29 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.

Hanwell Dental Centre is located in the London Borough of Ealing. The practice is based on the first floor of Hanwell Health Centre, and consists of two treatment rooms, a dedicated decontamination room, and a reception area. There are also shared areas for patient toilet facilities, a meeting room, and a store room.

The practice provides NHS and private dental services and treats both adults and children. The practice offers a range of dental services including routine examinations and treatment, veneers, crowns and bridges, and oral hygiene.

The staff structure of the practice consisted of a principal dentist, three dentists, a dental nurse, a practice manager who was also a dental nurse, a hygienist, and two receptionists. The practice is open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

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.

The inspection took place over one day and was carried out by a CQC inspector and a specialist advisor.

We received 13 CQC comment cards completed by patients and spoke with five patients during our inspection visit. Patients we spoke with, and those who completed comment cards, were positive about the care they received from the practice. They were complimentary about the friendly and caring attitude of the staff.

Our key findings were:

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned in line with best practice guidance, such as from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

• Equipment, such as the air compressor, autoclave (steriliser), ultrasonic cleaner, and X-ray equipment had all been checked for effectiveness and had been regularly serviced.

• The practice ensured staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients, although some staff required training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

• Patients indicated that they felt they were listened to and that they received good care from a helpful and patient practice team.

• The practice had implemented clear procedures for managing comments, concerns or complaints, although the complaints procedure was not easily available to patients.

• The principal dentist had a clear vision for the practice and staff told us they were well supported by the management team.

• Risks to patients and staff had not been always been suitably assessed and mitigated

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

• Review governance arrangements including the effective use of risk assessments, and audits, such as those for infection control.
• Establish an effective system to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks including and not limited to those associated with cleaning of used dental instruments, control of substances hazardous to health and recruitment of staff.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

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

• Ensure patients have easy access to the practice’s complaints procedures.
• Ensure the information provided in the practice leaflet is up to date.
• Ensure all staff are aware of their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 as it relates to their role.