A dental practice or a clinic is a working building with patients in it. The compressor and the suction need a clean supply, the surgeries need power and data in exactly the right places, the fire alarm and emergency lighting are checked by the regulator, and none of the work can put dust in a treatment room or close a surgery on a clinic day. We work in dental practices, GP and private clinics, physiotherapy and aesthetic practices and care settings across Birmingham and the West Midlands, and we plan the work around the appointment book.
What a clinic usually needs from us
- Surgery fit-outs and refits: dedicated circuits for the chair, the compressor, the suction and the autoclave, isolators where the equipment manufacturer asks for them, and the data points for the practice management system, the intra-oral camera and the imaging.
- X-ray and imaging rooms: the supply, the warning light interlock and the door switch wiring for intra-oral, OPG and CBCT units, to the equipment supplier's specification.
- Decontamination rooms: the sockets, extraction and lighting a HTM 01-05 compliant layout needs, coordinated with the plumber and the cabinet maker.
- Fire detection and emergency lighting to the category the fire risk assessment calls for, with the six-monthly and annual tests done and recorded, because the inspector asks to see the log book.
- Periodic inspection: the EICR for the building and the records that go with it, kept current so they are to hand at inspection.
- Access control and intercom: a street door answered from reception, staff doors on fobs, the drugs cupboard and the server cupboard on a separate group, and an event log.
- CCTV in reception, waiting areas and car parks, with the signage and the retention period set so that it stands up to a patient's question.
- Networking and Wi-Fi for the practice management system, the imaging, the phones and a separate patient Wi-Fi.
How we work in a clinic
Surgeries are done one at a time, on a day the practice has blocked out, and handed back clean before the next list. Power-off work is done in the evening or at the weekend. We agree with the practice manager what will be noisy and when, and we keep the corridor clear. The handover file is written for the person who has to produce it at an inspection: the certificates on top, the drawings behind.
The regulator
A practice registered with the Care Quality Commission is asked to show that its premises are safe and that the systems in them are maintained. We cannot register you or write your policies, but we can make sure that every electrical, fire and emergency lighting record is current, dated and in one place, and that the dates of the next tests are in your diary and ours.
Where we do this
Practices and clinics in Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and across the West Midlands, and for a group with practices in several towns, wherever those practices are.