During our visit we met with the provider, Dr Ken Stalker. We spoke with the dental nurse and the receptionist. We also spoke with three patients and looked at patient records.

Patients told us they were well informed of their treatment; “I was quite happy with the brief I got”. Patients were given choices of treatment. One patient said “you have a choice whether you want it”. The dentist said “you have to allow the patient to choose what the appropriate treatment is for them”.

Two patient records we looked at reflected the treatment that the patients told us they had received. Written treatment plans were provided for complex treatments and we saw examples of these.

The practice operated processes, and followed procedures, that minimised the risk and spread of infection because current guidelines were followed.

Staff we spoke with felt well supported by the practice. One receptionist said “There isn’t a hierarchy. We all work together as a team.” We saw that relevant training and development had been undertaken by staff.

The practice did not regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service. Patients were not regularly asked for feedback through satisfaction surveys and audits were not regularly conducted. Systems to identify and manage risks were not always in place, for example to monitor the contents of the emergency drugs box.

We visited the provider to follow up on areas of non-compliance identified at our previous visit. At our visit on 26 June 2013 we found that the provider did not regularly assess and monitor the quality of the service and that patients were not regularly asked for feedback on the service. We also found that systems to identify and manage risks were not always in place. The provider wrote to us on 23 October 2013 and told us that they had taken action to address areas of non-compliance raised in our report.

We found that the provider had implemented some systems to manage risks. For example, a system had been introduced to monitor and manage the emergency medical supplies held by the practice. We found that the provider had undertaken an infection control audit and planned to repeat the audit every six months in line with the department of health guidance.

We saw that the provider had sought feedback from their patients and we were told that this had been acted upon. The provider had implemented a system to obtain feedback from their patients on an on-going basis. We were told that the provider regularly audited the quality of x-rays and had identified the reason for poor quality x-rays and responded appropriately. The provider may find it useful to note that there was no clear plan to demonstrate how they would monitor and improve patient care on an on-going basis.