We found out what people thought of the practice by reviewing the results of patient feedback surveys. People said things like, “Very helpful staff – an excellent practice,” “The reception staff are all very nice, as are the dentists” and “All the staff are helpful.”

Patients were given different treatment options and these were always explained to them as well as the cost of their treatment.

We watched how the staff dealt with people as they arrived. We saw they were very friendly and polite, putting people at their ease.

We saw there were safeguarding procedures in place. There was also on-going training and support for staff to help keep them up-to-date with best practice. The practice manager told us about the training she had undertaken and described the steps which would be taken if she or any of the staff saw or suspected abuse had taken place.

The practice was clean and well maintained with good procedures in place to prevent cross infection.

We saw staff at the practice were properly trained, worked to a professional code of conduct and kept their skills updated. One dentist told us, “All staff at the practice have good access to training and development and we have regular training days where all members of the team undertake training or development together.”

There were measures in place to make sure the quality of the service received by patients was maintained or improved. Patients were regularly asked their views and their responses were used to plan and make improvements.