We carried out a comprehensive inspection of EvoDental Surgery1-North West on 14 May 2015.

EvoDental Surgery1-North West is situated near Huyton in Merseyside. It provides private dental implant services.

The practice has three dentists, two of whom are part time; two dental nurses, a decontamination technician, an administrator and a practice manager. The practice has five dental technicians working in its on-site implant laboratory.

The principal dentist is the clinical director and provider of the service. The practice manager is the registered manager for the practice. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run.

The service is supported by a visiting clinical director for research and development. Dental implant procedures are mainly carried out under local anaesthetic; however conscious intravenous (IV) sedation is available for nervous patients. A consultant anaesthetist from outside the practice provides specialist support to carry out conscious IV sedation.

The practice is open Monday to Friday from 9-00am to 7-00pm.

We spoke with one patient and the relative of two patients who used the service on the day of our inspection and reviewed three completed CQC comment cards. Patients we spoke with and who completed comment cards were positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented staff were caring, helpful and respectful and that they had confidence in the dental services provided.

We found that this practice was providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Our key findings were:

• Staff had been trained to handle emergencies and appropriate medicines and life-saving equipment were readily available. Infection control procedures were in place and the practice followed published guidance.

• The practice carried out oral health assessments and planned treatment in line with current best practice guidance, for example from the Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP).

• Patients were treated with dignity and respect and confidentiality was maintained. Patients commented they felt involved in their treatment and that it was fully explained to them.

• The practice provided patients with information about the services they offered on their website and in the information pack given to patients at the initial consultation.
• Governance systems were effective and there was a range of clinical and non-clinical audits to monitor the quality of the service.

The people we spoke with were all very positive about the care and treatment they received at this clinic and told us the service was "excellent", "can not fault it" and “best thing I ever did".

We spoke with two people about their experiences. Both said that they were given enough information to consider any risks and believed that the service had determined what any risks were to them. People attending for treatment on the day of our visit told us that they were "very happy" with the treatment that they had received. They told us that they were provided with "lots" of information that they found really "useful". All those we spoke with told us that they were offered a free consultation prior to undertaking any treatment and during this they were given treatment options that suited their needs. They told us that they were given plenty of time to discuss their options with the dentist and were also provided with a cost of any treatment at this time.

One person told us that at their first treatment they had spent the entire day in the clinic. The person had a medical condition, with which they were supported by the service to monitor and manage during their treatment. They told us that they thought that the staff would have been able to help them had any problems occurred.

We spoke to people using the service. They told us that they were supplied with protective clothing such as glasses when they had their treatment. They also told us that they observed staff using equipment during their treatment such as gown, gloves and glasses. One person told us that the dentist had explained that this was for their protection and to prevent any infection.