This inspection was carried out to follow up a compliance action issued at our last inspection on 22 May 2014. The provider needed to improve how they monitored the service to ensure team learning and improvement was implemented. We also identified that they needed to improve how they captured patient’s views of the service to improve patient experience. The provider sent us an action plan and told us they would be compliant by 28 August 2014.

We found on this inspection that the practice had made improvements to meet the compliance action set. The registered manager and provider monitored the service and improvements identified were actioned. There was an effective system in place to gain feedback from patients about the quality of the service provided to enable the service to improve patient experience.

On this occasion we did not speak with patients during our inspection.

During our inspection we spoke with six patients’ who visited the practice. They were complimentary about how the service was provided. One patient complimented their dentist “she is the best dentist I have ever had, very gentle and caring. You are treated as a person rather than a number”. Another patient commented on their experience with the receptionists “they are always friendly and helpful, I get through ok on the phone” when making an appointment.

Patient’s told us they would recommend the practice to others. One patient said “no there is nothing to improve” with the service. The practice does not always ask for patient’s views to assess the quality of the service provided. Staff told us they would often receive feedback from patients either in the treatment room or at reception. However, this feedback was not captured.

Patients were confident in the dentist’s ability. We spoke with anxious patients who told us their dentist put them at ease when they were treated. Dentists ensured risks to patient’s health and safety were reduced by identifying potential risks and ensuring they were recorded.

Appropriate procedures were in place to deal with a medical emergencies and foreseeable emergencies, such as a fire or flood.

Effective recruitment procedures were in place to ensure dental nurses and receptionists were recruited to ensure the protection and safety of patients. However, we were unable to review dentist records because they were held centrally. We have followed this up with the provider.

On the day of our visit we were able to speak with two people who had attended the practice for a number of years.

They said they were very happy with the service provided and had never had reason to raise any concerns.

One person said they were "we have been coming here for years."

People told us they were involved in all decisions relating to their treatment. They said they were asked whether there had been medical changes the dentist would need to be aware of.

People said they could make appointments including emergency appointments easily. We were able to talk with one of the dentists and the dental nurse. The dental nurse explained how infection control was managed within the practice. They told us they had received infection control training as part of their qualification course work and attended on-going training.

We saw the service was not operating effective recruitment procedures. For example, on four staff files there was no record of references from previous employers of current staff members and one dental nurse did not have a certificate to confirm GDC (General Dental Council) registration.