We found the surgery had a pleasant and friendly atmosphere, and the staff provided reassurance for people who were nervous. The practice gave people suitable information about the services available, and this was provided in a leaflet as well as verbally.

People with whom we spoke said that the dentists, hygienist, nurse and receptionist were “Wonderful”, and that they had no complaints about the staff or the service. One person told us “I have been coming here for years, and I am fully confident in the care and treatment given. Another commented “I cannot praise them highly enough. Everything about this practice is excellent.”

Although the practice was clean there were no records to show that audits had been completed regularly to help ensure and maintain good standards of hygiene as required by the Health Technical Memoranda 01-05: Decontamination in primary dental care practices (HTM 01-05) This document has been produced to assist all primary dental care services to meet satisfactory levels of infection control.

We found that the staff had systems in place to ensure that they kept up with required training subjects. Although the training for dealing with a medical emergency had lapsed, this year’s training had been booked for the near future.

The practice enabled people to give feedback via, a suggestion box situated at the reception desk and through carrying out regular patient satisfaction surveys.