This scheduled inspection was to see if patients received a safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led service. We also followed up on areas of concern about infection control practices identified previously during an inspection carried out in January 2012. At the time of this inspection the dental practice location Clifton Down was shared between three separately registered dental providers. This inspection focussed on the service provided by Dr A Whitby.

During our inspection visit we spoke to Dr Whitby, the practice manager and three other staff, including dental nurses. We did not speak with patients who used the service on the day of our inspection. We used information from patient feedback cards collected by the staff at the practice during the 48 hours prior to and during the inspection visit. We looked at some of the facilities and the environment. We reviewed records relating to the management of the service, the employment of staff, and some of the overall quality assurance systems in place. The provider also submitted information supporting compliance during the 48 hours following the inspection visit.

We found there continued to be some improvements required in the management and facilities for infection control. However, we recognise the provider has already set plans in place and had partially completed actions to rectify and improve their systems for infection control. There were gaps in the recruitment processes which did not meet the provider’s legal requirements or evidence a robust process had been fully carried out. The provider had implemented and was further developing a detailed system for assessing the quality of the services provided to people.

We saw written compliments from patients of how they were very happy with the treatment they were provided with. Patients’ had valued how welcome and at ease the staff had made them when visiting the dentist for treatment. One person wrote,” Friendly team, warm welcome – thank you.”

We spoke with three people who attended the dental practice; they were all satisfied with their treatment and told us that the dentists always explained everything to them telling us: “I feel the dentist treats me as an individual taking into account my medical history”.