INFECTION control has been questioned at a town centre dental surgery where inspectors have been forced into taking enforcement action due to safety and leadership fears.

Malherbedentalclinics Ltd, otherwise known as Groundwell Dental Practice in Groundwell Road, has been criticised by the Care Quality Commission following two concerning inspections in the space of two weeks.

After discovering a number of regulation breaches on August 17, a lead inspector and dental specialist advisor returned on September 1 to find the clinic was failing in three of five areas.

While care and responsiveness was good, safety, effectiveness and leadership was slammed with special concern raised for the lack of regard shown to stopping the spread of infection between patients.

The report said: “We found this practice was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

“Systems, processes and practices were not in place to ensure all care and treatment was carried out safely.

“The practice did not have in place robust arrangements for managing infection prevention and control at the practice.

“We found some of the equipment used in the dental practice was not maintained in accordance with current guidelines.”

It also said: “We found this practice was not providing care which was well led in accordance with the relevant regulations.

“There was ineffective leadership locally in the practice and by the provider of services overall.

“There was little or no system of clinical governance in place to underpin the quality of clinical care provided by the practice.

“Staff showed little or no awareness of current guidelines with respect to infection control and the importance of clinical audit in monitoring the quality of care provided.”

In the report published today, it revealed five staff, included a dentist and hygienist, had been interviewed, along with patients who praised staff for the kindness and respect they received.

The report said there had been no recent infection control training, nurses did not understand the basics of the sterilisation machine, sharp instruments were mismanaged and there was no system in place for learning from incidents.

A spokesman for the practice said: “We can confirm we are having a CQC re-inspection on Monday, November 2.

“We have been working closely with the CQC following a change in ownership at Groundwell Dental Practice, and we have been working very hard to put everything necessary right.

“These findings will be published and confirmed in due course following the re-inspection.”