During our visit to the practice on 16 January we toured the premises and met with the practice manager and nine staff on duty. We looked at documents related to the running of the practice. We subsequently spoke with eight people who used the service and phoned the registered manager, who was one of the principal dentists and a partner in the business, on 21 January to discuss our findings.

People told us they found staff to be “polite and efficient”. One person said, “All very good, including reception – they go through what needs doing, and go through the procedure”.

Of the eight people who spoke with us, six were satisfied that the dentist listened to them and took their views into account. One person said, “I am very pleased with my dentist, she explains everything. I am not very good with dentists, but I travel some distance to come here”. Another person said, “The care is excellent. The dentist put me at my ease, was caring, and went out of his way to explain”.

We found that the dentist and staff were prepared to deal with emergencies that might arise, to keep people safe. The practice had provided guidance and training to identify and deal with child protection and safeguarding vulnerable adults.

We found that good systems were in place to keep the practice clean and hygienic, and to monitor the quality of the service.