Nigel Newtons Dental Care

Updated 16 May 2016

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Further to the outcome of a previous inspection, carried out in October 2014, we carried out an announced focused inspection relating to the safe provision of conscious sedation on 28 April 2016. The inspection was led by a dental specialist advisor and a CQC inspector

During the inspection, we spoke with the practice owner the practice manager/lead nurse and reviewed policies, procedures and other documents.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always asked the following questions:

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during this inspection.

Updated 16 May 2016

Further to the outcome of a previous inspection, carried out in October 2014, we carried out an announced focused inspection relating to the safe provision of conscious sedation on 28 April 2016 to ask the practice the following key questions;

Are services safe, effective, and well-led in relation to conscious sedation?

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 well-led?

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

Background

Nigel Newton’s Dental Care is a mixed dental practice providing NHS and private treatment for both adults and children. The practice is situated in a converted residential property based in a suburb of Weston-Super-Mare.

The practice has one dental treatment room and a separate decontamination room for cleaning, sterilising and packing dental instruments. Also included is a reception and waiting area.

The practice has a dentist who is also the practice owner, a lead dental nurse who acts as the practice manager and two part-time trainee dental nurses.

The practice owner 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.

Our key findings were:

All of the requirements set out by the Care Quality Commission in relation to conscious sedation at the previous practice inspection had been met:

• Whilst not currently providing conscious sedation the governance systems in place to underpin the provision of this treatment gave us confidence it would be provided safety.
• An empowered practice manager oversaw the maintenance of clinical governance systems.
• Staff involved in the provision of conscious sedation had been trained to handle medical emergencies.
• Appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment was readily available in accordance with current guidelines.
• Staff received appropriate joint update training by the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD) in relation to the provision of conscious sedation in a ‘high street’ dental care setting.
• The necessary monitoring equipment to ensure the safe provision of conscious sedation was available.
• Standard operating procedures were in place for the use of medicines involved in conscious sedation including the maintenance of a stock of the reversal agent for the sedative medicine.
• Two appropriately trained staff supported patients during their conscious sedation.