We inspected this service because of information received regarding a concern about cleanliness and infection control procedures at the practice.

The concern related to an incident which occurred at the practice involving cleanliness and sterilisation of instruments and staff training in infection control.

Barton Dental Surgery had three dentists, a hygienist and three dental nurses. There was also a practice manager and reception team. The opening times were displayed at reception.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care, we always ask the following five questions of every dental practice: Is it safe? Is it effective? Is it caring? Is it responsive to people’s needs? Is it well-led?

During our inspection we found that the practice had taken appropriate action to ensure patients received safe, caring, effective and responsive treatment. The practice was well led and a thorough action plan involving infection control had been put in place and executed. Infection control policies had all been reviewed. Staff had received updated training in infection control.

Patients we spoke with were satisfied with the standards of cleanliness at the practice.

The practice has three dentists, one implantologist and three dental nurses, providing a service to approximately 30,000 patients. The practice has three treatment rooms on two floors. There is disabled parking available and the practice has a level front entrance. One treatment room is on the ground floor, which means people with limited mobility are able to access the service.

We saw that the practice was clean, tidy and well maintained.

We spoke with six patients during this visit who were attending for examination or treatment. All of them were positive about the service. One patient said “On the whole its very good, the whole family comes here.”

People told us that their views and experiences were taken into account in the way the service was provided and delivered in relation to their care.

We looked at the feedback comments received from patients. These showed satisfaction with the service. One patient wrote “No problems, very accommodating”.

People who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse, because the provider had taken reasonable steps to identify the possibility of abuse and prevent abuse from happening. Staff files provided evidence that staff had received safeguarding training.

We looked at the practice records. All records that we requested were easily found and up to date. We found that the dentist used records well to ensure safe practice and circulate information to their team.