When we visited the Dental Care Centre on 7 and 8 February 2013, we spoke with four people, or their carers, seeing dentists that day. Each person told us they were satisfied with the service they received and described how well the dentists explained their options and provided information to assist them to make their own decisions on treatments. Dentists we spoke with explained how they would involve the patient and the patient’s carers or advocates where appropriate. We saw that dentists gave people lots of information to support their choices and safe access to treatments. We noted that dentist took care to communicate well with people, including someone using a keypad for communication, or with very young children.

A carer of one person told us about one dentist saying, ''He is just incredible and has so much patience to explain things. He goes into enough detail to make sure (x) understands.'' Another person said, ''The dentist is very good. They explain in a lot of detail what my options are and make it easy to have things done. They are very friendly and co-operative here.’’

The centre had sufficient processes in place to ensure that treatment was delivered to people safely. All areas of the building were clean and tidy and there were robust infection control processes in place.

People told us that they would be confident in discussing any shortfall or complaints if it were necessary. We saw a recent patient survey showing high levels of satisfaction.