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 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We were concerned that emergency medicines were all out of date, with some having expired in 2003.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.