The providers took over ownership of the practice in August 2013 and were in the process of renovating the building. On the day of our inspection building work was being carried out on the first floor and did not impact on patient care.

We spoke with patients who told us they were able to get an appointment at a time and date to suit them. The patients we spoke with told us: “I waited about a week but it was not an emergency.” “I did not wait long for an appointment.”

We looked at a sample of five patient records which were held in paper form. We saw they contained; a medical history which was checked at each visit, information about general health and a record of medication.

We saw the practice had an infection prevention and control policy and procedure. We looked at a sample of continuing personal development (CPD) files and saw staff had attended training relating to infection control and decontamination.

Dentists and dental nurses were registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) and were required to keep a record of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD). We saw evidence that staff had attended annual resuscitation training, infection control, decontamination, sedation, first aid and medical emergencies.

We saw they had a system of auditing patient records to ensure examinations and treatments were recorded appropriately and that patients received the care they needed.