Archived: The Dentist in Town

Updated 11 May 2017

We carried out a review of this service on 21 February 2017 to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the practice after our comprehensive inspection on 14 January 2016 had been implemented. We reviewed the practice against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well-led? This is because the service was not previously meeting some of their legal requirements under the well-led domain.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that the staff had followed their plan to address identified shortfalls and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

The review was led by a CQC inspector who had access to remote advice from a specialist advisor.

During our review, we checked that the registered provider’s action plan had been implemented. We reviewed a range of documents provided by the registered provider. We found that the practice was not meeting their legal requirements under the well-led domain. Due to circumstances beyond their control, the provider no longer worked at this practice. Two dentists had been recruited to ensure the continuity of patients’ care. A practice manager was recruited shortly after this inspection in order to help the practice achieve compliance with the regulations.

Updated 11 May 2017

During our announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 14 January 2016, we found breaches of legal requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in relation to regulation 17- Good Governance.

We undertook this focused inspection on 21 February 2017 to check that the provider had taken action to address the shortfalls identified and now met legal requirements.

This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our previous comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Dentist in Town on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Our findings were:

Are services well-led?

We found that this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Key findings

• Overall we found that insufficient action had been taken to address the shortfalls identified at our previous inspection. The provider continued to be non-compliant with the regulation.
• The provider no longer worked at this practice. Two dentists had been recruited to ensure the continuity of patient care.
• Further changes were made following our inspection visit and we received evidence that some improvements had been implemented.
• A practice manager was recruited soon after this inspection in order to reach compliance with the regulations.

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

Ensure effective systems and processes are established to assess and monitor the service against the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and national guidance relevant to dental practice. This includes:

• the monitoring and undertaking safety checks of medicines and equipment to manage medical emergencies giving due regard to guidelines issued by the Resuscitation Council (UK).
• Having in place suitable infection control procedures and protocols taking into account guidelines issued by the Department of Health - Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices and The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance’.
• the undertaking of infection control audits at regular intervals and ensuring that learning points are documented and shared with all relevant staff.
• Having in place an effective recruitment policy and procedures that are in line with Schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 to ensure necessary employment checks are in place for all staff and the required specified information in respect of persons employed by the practice is held.
• achieving compliance with its legal obligations under Ionising Radiation Regulations (IRR) 99 and Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulation (IRMER) 2000.