We carried out a routine inspection of Castle Hill Dental Practice on 13 December 2013. We looked at the records of four patients in detail and spoke with them during their appointment. We spoke with another four patients over the phone who had attended appointments on the day of our visit.

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

Patients made positive comments about their experience of treatment at the dental practice. For example, a patient who needed emergency treatment said “we were very pleasantly surprised how quickly they got me in”, which they told us was “very reassuring”. We followed four patient’s appointments from start to finish and all said they had been comfortable and “all of the staff were very polite and caring”. We saw dentists always asked patients about their health and explained treatment options with each patient before starting.

The practice had systems in place which meant patients were safe and well cared for. For example, one patient told us “I’m 100% happy so far, the staff made me feel very at ease”. The environment was clean and equipment safe to use because decontamination and cleaning procedures were robust. The manager showed us plans to upgrade the decontamination room in the first part 2014, which will bring the facilities up to national best standards. The provider was compliant with all five outcomes we looked at.