A dentist has been told it must improve after failing to meet safety requirements set out by the health watchdog.

Acorn Dental Care on Moorbridge Road in Maidenhead was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on April 9, with a report subsequently being published on May 29.

The report found the practice met four out of five of its target areas. These are; effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

However, Acorn Dental Care was told 'improvements are required' for it to meet expectations for safety.

CQC visited the practice in a routine inspection to check whether the dentistry was meeting the legal requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations.

Acorn Dental Care is a private dentist that provides treatment for adults and children. It has been noted that "reasonable adjustments" were made to support patients with access requirements.

The team of seven comprises dentists, nurses and hygienists operating in three treatment rooms.

While inspectors found the dental clinic "appeared clean and well-maintained", the provider's infection control procedures were "not operated effectively".

Other issues flagged in the report included a risk to patients and staff due to ineffective systems, emergency equipment provisions and recruitment procedures.

Despite this, the report said: "The provider had safeguarding processes and staff knew their responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults and children."

Going into more detail, the report said: "The practice did not have effective infection prevention and control procedures which reflected current published guidance."

The CQC found that manual scrubbing was not carried out, a thermometer was missing from cleaning water and instruments were not inspected after cleaning.

The decontamination glove change log had not been completed for over a month and the correct PPE was not being worn by the nurse.

Other causes for concern were undated equipment, out-of-date medicines and worktop spaces being "cluttered".

"There was not an effective cleaning process in place to ensure the practice was kept clean," the report said.

Most logs stopped on March 4 - meaning in some instances, paperwork hadn't been filled out for almost a month.

Management had also failed to keep on top of gas boiler and air conditioning servicing - and staff's fire safety training.

The report continued: "Paper patient care records were legible, kept securely and complied with General Data Protection Regulation requirements.

"The practice had systems to review and investigate incidents and accidents."

The CQC will now give Acorn Dental Care time to act on the feedback before a follow-up visit.