We carried out a routine inspection of Chulmleigh Dental Practice on 2 January 2014. We looked at the records of nine patients and spoke with them during their appointment; some were children accompanied by their parents who we also spoke with. We spoke with another three patients over the phone after their appointment.

We asked NHS England for their comments because they have a monitoring role in the commissioning of NHS dental care at this practice. NHS England reported there were no concerns with this practice.

Patients made positive comments about their experience of treatment at the dental practice. We were told the practice was very responsive when patients were in pain and needed emergency treatment. For example, a patient said “They’ve been brilliant. I had a problem and got seen the same day”. A parent told us about the complex care their child had received from the team and said “It wasn’t a problem and they’ve worked around us and what we needed”.

We followed nine patient’s appointments from start to finish and all said they were satisfied with the dental practice with comments like “We love coming here and come a very long way to do so”. One patient told us they were very anxious but always put at ease and said the dentist was “Always very good”. The patients we spoke with described staff as being “Brilliant”. One patient remarked to us “It’s always a pleasure to see my dentist. She takes an interest in you and is particularly good with older people and is very kind”.

Information about fees, treatment plans and medical history was discussed with each patient. For example, we saw a patient being given their treatment plan before they left the dentist and their questions about when fees would be due being answered in a respectful way by the reception staff.

The practice had systems in place which meant patients were safe and well cared for. Patients described the environment and equipment used as being a “very high standard of cleanliness”. We saw decontamination and cleaning procedures followed national guidelines, which meant equipment was safe to use on patients. We highlighted an area for improvement around the use of personal protective equipment, regarding masks and uniforms. The manager said they would immediately raise awareness about the use of personal protective equipment with all staff.

The provider was compliant with four out five outcomes we looked at. Recruitment practices were not sufficiently robust to protect patients from being cared for by unsuitable staff. The manager said they would immediately review these procedures.