An inspection at Littleport Dental Surgery has found “a lack of oversight meant that nationally recommended decontamination procedures were not being followed”.

An inspection at Littleport Dental Surgery has found “a lack of oversight meant that nationally recommended decontamination procedures were not being followed”.

Practice manager Dr Amiras Chokshi was told to take action after the Care Quality Commission found the practice at 11 Granby Street “was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations”.

The CQC’s inspection report states “the provider did not operate effective systems and processes to assess, monitor and mitigate risks to the health and welfare of people who used the service. This included implementing effective decontamination procedures, ensuring the safe recruitment of staff, reviewing the need for an automated external defibrillator, responding to national safety alerts and undertaking effective audits of the service provided.”

It also lists “a number of shortfalls in the practice’s decontamination procedures which did not follow national guidance and compromised good infection control”.

The practice however passed the inspection on all other grounds and was said to be providing safe, effective, responsive and caring care.

The decisions were made after a CQC inspector and a specialist dental adviser reviewed policies, procedures and documents relating to the management of the service.

A spokesman for Littleport Dental Surgery said: “Littleport Dental Surgery thrives on providing excellent care to our patients, as has been highlighted by the five star reviews on the NHS choices website.

“After the initial basic recommendation from the CQC was put into action we decided to go above and beyond and worked hard to attain national best practice protocols to our decontamination procedures and have since passed on all five domains.

“The inspectors commented on how fast we managed to implement the suggestions including installation of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and were extremely impressed that we have taken the views of our patients on board and changed our premium rate number to a low cost local number which is 01353 861980.”

Before the inspection, CQC sent comment cards to the practice for patients to complete to tell them about their experience.

Feedback was received from 10 patients who commented positively about the quality of the service, the friendliness of staff and the effectiveness of their treatment.

Staff also told the inspector they felt “well supported, enjoyed their work, received regular appraisal of their performance and there were regular practice meetings”.

The Care Quality Commission carried out the inspection under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 on October 25.

The surgery, which has a team of five dentists, two hygienists, four dental nurses and a practice manager, provides mainly NHS treatment to adults and children.