During this inspection on 30 July 2013, to follow-up on non-compliance, we spoke with four people who were waiting to be seen by the dentist. Three of the four people told us they had been using the service for a number of years and had not had any problems. The fourth person had only recently registered with the practice and they said, "I have every confidence in Dr Malik". They went to tell us the service had been recommended to them by a family member who was very satisfied with the treatment they had received. Another person said, "I always get an appointment when I need one. Instant service is worth a lot."

We spoke with one person following their appointment. They told us the dentist had told them what needed to be done, including the cost, and explained the treatment options to them. We looked at the records for this person and saw that the information given to them had also been documented. We saw they had been requested to sign to confirm their agreement with the procedure, and this information was stored in their treatment file. This indicated that people were involved in their treatment and were given sufficient information to make an informed choice.

Our visit to Dental Health Practice Dunstable took place during the evening of 8 January 2013. Unfortunately at this time there were no people waiting to have dental treatment so we were unable to gain people’s views about the service. In addition the service was not routinely asking people to express their views about the service provided ,or the treatment they received, by for example completing satisfaction questionnaires or making comments.

We sampled patients’ records and we saw that people were asked to complete medical forms and keep them updated. The dentist recorded when an individual attended for an appointment. However the records lacked detail and did not indicate how treatment decisions had been made or how the person who used the service had been involved.

The practice was clean and tidy and we saw that waste materials were disposed of correctly.

There were sufficient qualified staff to support the dentist however recruitment and employment records were not made available for us.

The provider was able to tell us how they responded to complaints but there was no record of the complaints received or how they were investigated.