We spoke with three patients who spoke favourably of the practice. They told us that they were happy with the dentist because their views and experiences were taken into account. A patient told us, “I don’t like visiting dentists, but coming here is okay because l am not scared. The dentist is very reassuring; he puts you at ease” and another told us “I feel involved in my care”. They commended the competence of the dentist and the staff who were described as “pleasant”.

Although we were unable to get specific comments from patients regarding safeguarding arrangements of the practice, they were able to tell us that they felt safe and had not found any cause to make any complaint about the conduct of the dentist or staff.

Patients told us that the practice was always clean and well maintained.

We spoke with three patients who told us that they were happy with the dentist. They told us they were treated with respect and given choices for treatment. One patient told us “everything is explained to me” and another stated, “my privacy is respected.

We saw that all patients had a treatment plan, which was informed by the initial assessment, which would have required patients’ input. A patient told us “risks and all options are explained”. Most of the patients felt confident they would talk to the dentist if they had any concerns.

We were concerned that emergency medicines were all out of date, with some having expired in 2003. The service did not have appropriate safeguards in place to ensure people were protected from abuse. There was no safeguarding policy and staff did not demonstrate knowledge on the subject. There were also gaps in infection control where we noted the autoclave had been in operation for weeks without testing to ascertain performance.