We carried out our inspection of the dental services as part of an inspection of healthcare services at H.M. Prison Lewes in co-ordination with the H.M Inspectorate of Prisons.

We spoke with 9 people about their experiences of the dental service. They all expressed positive views about the treatment and advice they had received.

Some people told us they thought they had to wait an excessively long time for treatment. However, other evidence did not support this. We saw that the waiting list for appointments at the time of our inspection was 27 people. We also saw the longest time people had waited for treatment was one week and five days.

We saw that people received information about their dental problems and were informed about treatment options. We noted they were involved in making decisions about the treatment they received and provided with advice and information about oral hygiene and dental care.

The provider worked in partnership with other providers such as hospitals in the community. This ensured people’s specific needs were safely met.

We saw that the provider maintained essential quality requirements for infection prevention and control and ensured people were protected from the risk of harm.

There were systems and arrangements in place to check that workplace procedures were properly implemented, equipment worked effectively and the quality of the service was maintained and if necessary improved.