Archived: East Finchley Smiles

We carried out this announced inspection on 22 April 2021 under section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We planned the inspection to check whether the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations. The inspection was led by a Care Quality Commission, (CQC), inspector who was supported by a specialist dental adviser.

To consider the concerns we received we asked the following questions.

• Is it safe?

• Is it well-led?

These questions form the framework for the areas we look at during the inspection.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found this practice was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

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

Background

East Finchley Smile is in Barnet and provides NHS and private dental care and treatment for adults and children.

The practice is owned by an individual. They 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 the Nominated Individual, one dentist, one dental nurse and the receptionist.

Our key findings were:

• The provider had safeguarding processes but not all staff had training for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.
• The provider had infection control procedures which reflected published guidance including guidance related to the management of COVID-19. However, these were not being monitored to ensure that they were fully understood and adhered to.
• The provider had staff recruitment procedures which reflected current legislation. Improvements were needed to ensure that important checks were carried out to determine the suitability of all staff who worked at the practice.
• The provider had ineffective leadership to support a culture of openness and continuous improvement.
• There were ineffective governance systems to monitor the day-to-day running of the practice.
• The provider had ineffective arrangements to ensure that staff undertook important recommended training in relation to their roles within the practice.

We identified regulations the provider was not complying with. They must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with

the fundamental standards of care.

Full details of the regulations the provider is not meeting are at the end of this report.