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Infection control audits in a dental practice

An infection control audit in a dental practice should be done at least every six months. HTM 01-05 says that, at a minimum, practices should audit their decontamination processes every six months, with an appropriate review depending on the results, and CQC lists this among its essential audits.

HTM 01-05 is guidance for dental practices in England, and CQC is the regulator there. Other UK nations have their own arrangements.

What the infection control audit is for

Practices are required to establish and operate a quality assurance system that covers decontamination and infection control. HTM 01-05 says this may best be demonstrated by carrying out audits and assessments, and that complying with it will be seen as indicative of a valid quality assurance system.

CQC’s infection prevention and control mythbuster says there should be an audit programme so that policies and procedures are effective and up to date, and that the audit should show evidence of issues identified and how they were addressed.

When it assesses infection control, CQC looks at Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and Regulation 15 (premises and equipment).

The HTM 01-05 audit tool

HTM 01-05 strongly recommends the Infection Prevention Society/DH audit tool, which it says parallels the guidance in the document and includes a number of other safety-related topics. NHS England’s HTM 01-05 page also notes that the Infection Prevention Society has produced a dental audit tool to help practices self-assess compliance.

CQC says HTM 01-05 advises providers to use the Infection Prevention Society’s audit tool, and its audit mythbuster says you could use the Department of Health dental toolkit.

How to run it

CQC’s audit mythbuster sets out a general audit cycle that works well for this:

  1. Identify the topic. Here, decontamination and infection control.
  2. Set the standard. The audit tool’s questions, based on HTM 01-05, do this for you.
  3. Collect the data. This can be a tick-box review or direct observation.
  4. Analyse the data. Compare it with the standard, work out why any standard was not met, and decide what could change.
  5. Implement the change. Share the results and act on them.
  6. Re-audit. Repeat the cycle to measure what changed.

An honest audit will find gaps, and that is what it is for. A row of perfect scores with no actions can look less convincing than a short list of problems that were fixed.

What evidence to keep

CQC says it may ask to see evidence that audits have been carried out, including:

  • the audit data collection
  • the action plan
  • the subsequent action taken

HTM 01-05 says audits should be filed for inspection as part of your risk management system and made available to regulatory bodies when required. Audit documents should be stored for at least two years, and should not be removed from the premises or destroyed.

The six-monthly audit is one part of a wider picture. CQC’s mythbuster on infection control also expects:

  • an effective infection prevention and control policy that is relevant to your practice, accessible to all staff and updated regularly
  • an infection prevention and control lead with overall responsibility and the authority to make changes
  • a schedule of general cleaning, checked regularly for compliance
  • hand hygiene carried out at the key stages of the decontamination process, with a written policy or protocol in place

If your audit raises a concern about equipment, our article on autoclave testing requirements covers the separate routine for sterilisers. Our HTM 01-05 guide explains the daily checks that feed into the audit, and there is a separate page on the hand hygiene audit.

CQC also lists X-ray audits and accessibility audits as essential, so plan those alongside this one.

For questions about clinical procedures raised by an audit, speak to your infection prevention and control lead or the practice’s principal dentist. A Competent Person (Decontamination) or service engineer can advise on equipment.

Compliance UK can set up the infection control audit as a recurring check, on a default schedule that you can change, with evidence tagged to the CQC quality statements it supports.

Sources

Sources checked on 10 November 2026.