13 December 2011
During a routine inspection
Devon Dental Ltd contracted with the local Primary Care Trust (Devon NHS) to provide dental services at H.M. Prison Dartmoor. They were required to provide three sessions a week each of three hours patient contact time.
People expressed conflicting views about the quality of the dental service. Some individuals were extremely positive while others were less so. A survey had been carried out for HMIP a short time before the inspection and approximately 55% of the 178 respondents indicated they were satisfied with the dental service. The HMIP team met with different groups of people representing all the prisoners at Dartmoor. Some people in those groups told them they were dissatisfied with the dental service because they thought their treatment had been rough.
We spoke with four people who were receiving dental treatment and six others who told us they had used the service. All but one person said that dental staff were polite and treated them with respect. Three of the four people who were receiving treatment told us their treatment was explained fully. They said they were made aware of treatment choices that were available to them. They also said that they had been given copies of their care plans. One person could not recall whether they had. One person said they had been referred to a service outside the prison in order to have some teeth extracted.
Four of the people we spoke to were less complimentary about the dental service. One person described it as 'pathetic'. Two people told us that emergency treatment was delayed and there was a long waiting list. One person who told us they were disappointed with the treatment they had received and said that the dentist had a derogatory nickname.
Some of the people who spoke to had received dental treatment told us that they had been asked to complete questionnaires and give their views about how the dental service could be improved.