Watchdog criticises Brighton dental clinic
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has criticised a Brighton dental clinic after carrying out an inspection.
The watchdog has issued a “requirement notice” to the Brighton Smile Clinic, in Preston Road, Brighton, which is run by Dr Manolis Nextarios Makratzakis.
The CQC said: “We found that this practice was providing safe, effective, caring and responsive care.
“However, we found that this practice was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.”
The regulator published its report on Thursday (25 June) after carrying out an inspection on Wednesday 6 May. To read it, click here.
It said: “Brighton Smile Clinic is a general dental practice in Brighton offering both NHS and private dental treatment. The practice treats adults and children.”
Comments made by patients “reflected very positive views about the care and treatment they had received”.
The CQC said: “Patients felt the dentists (in particular the associate dentist who treated most of the patients seen at the practice) took a lot of time to explain care and treatment options in a way they understood.
“Common themes were patients felt they received excellent care in a calm and clean environment by friendly and caring staff.
“The practice provided care and treatment in a clean, hygienic, calm and welcoming environment.
“The practice had systems to assess and manage risks to patients for infection prevention and control and the management of medical emergencies.
“Patients told us through comment cards they were treated with kindness and respect by staff.
“The practice ensured there was always enough time to explain fully the care and treatment they were providing in a way patients understood.
“Patients were able to make routine and emergency appointments when needed. There were clear instructions for patients regarding out of hours care.
“Records we reviewed showed dentists did not always record oral health assessments and planned treatment.
“There were not clearly defined leadership roles within the practice.
“Although staff told us they felt able to raise concerns or make suggestions, it was unclear who these should be directed to or who was responsible for the day-to-day running of the practice.
“We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must establish and implement a process to regularly identify, assess and manage risks to the health, welfare and safety of patients, staff and visitors to the practice.”
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I had one of my Wisdom teeth out here a few months back and thought it was a pretty decent dentist.
I went in there with 10 out of 10 pain and left pretty happy considering i had paid somebody to rip my tooth out.
It was clean and the staff were all friendly. Unfortunately i have another wisdom tooth that needs fixing and i will probably be going back to the Smile clinic sometime this week to get it yanked out.
As far as Dentists go this is a good one.
Given that most of the report is saying that the service at the Smile Clinic is excellent, I feel that the title of this article is regrettable and misleading. I have been attending the Smile Clinic for some time and have always had excellent treatment. The criticism made by the CQC is to do with administration and not anything that affects the actual treatment of patients. I would like the Brighton and Hove News to print something to this effect and rectify any possible damage they may have done to the reputation of this excellent clinic.