On the day of our inspection, one of the two dental surgeries within the practice was in use.

Patient’s who used the service were given appropriate information and support regarding their care or treatment. We spoke with four patient’s in the waiting room within the practice, both before and after their appointments. Everybody we spoke with talked positively about the care and treatment they had received at the practice. This included being given sufficient information to be able to make an informed decision about any treatment required. Comments included “I’m very happy – we do travel to come here” and “My experience has been good. I’ve had no problems and the staff are fine.”

Patient’s needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with their needs. If patient’s required treatment, we saw they were provided with a treatment plan which included a breakdown of costs.

Staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities with regards to protecting patient’s from abuse or the risk of abuse.

One patient said “I’ve found the cleanliness good” and another patient said they found the practice “Very clean.” We also saw feedback from patient’s in a survey completed in October 2013 showed all of the respondents rated the cleanliness as good or very good.

The provider may find it useful to note that the dates on some of the bagged instruments in the surgery not in use on the day of our inspection had passed. This meant they were not dated with use by dates in accordance with the updated guidance within HTM 01-05. This concern was addressed on the day of the inspection. We saw records of cleaning spot-checks completed on a weekly basis. This included checks of the decontamination equipment, dental surgeries and equipment within them, and floors and sinks. We saw where any issues had been highlighted, these were found to have been resolved by the next spot-check. Overall we found the provider ensured patients were treated in a safe, clean environment.

People said they were very happy with the way they were treated by the staff employed by the practice.

The staff we spoke with told us they felt supported in their roles. The dental practitioner we spoke with also told us about the support they were providing to a colleague. We found staff were provided with training and support to ensure they were competent to carry out their roles.