Access to Dentistry Services Report 2020

Due to COVID-19, we have been unable to carry out our traditional face-to-face visits in order to engage with patients and collect patient experience information from across the borough. 

In adapting to these challenging new circumstances we developed and introduced a new model for our Patient Experience Programme, involving the collection of feedback via our zoom engagement sessions and collating existing online reviews from relevant platforms, such as NHS.uk, Care Home, Google reviews and Care Opinion.

This new approach has benefited residents through the additional provision of information and signposting. As our service becomes further embedded across the borough, we expect greater awareness of our service and a subsequent increasing number of reviews.

This report focuses on service users’ experiences of accessing Dentist services, from July 2020 to December 2020. A total of 2,255 reviews were collected. In terms of reporting, the above provides Healthwatch with several data sets. Star ratings provide a simple snapshot average, both overall and against specific domain areas. Mean averages are used for comparison purposes. The overall mean star rating was 4.54 (the scale is 1 to 5, with 5 being most positive).

The free-text comment box is analysed in two different ways resulting in two different data sets. In the first instance, the Informatics system looks at the patient experience comment in its totality, using a sophisticated algorithm to analyse words and phrases in order to apply a sentiment score to the overall comment. The sentiment score is translated into an overall positive, negative, or neutral sentiment. This is an automatic process. Where overall sentiment is highlighted in the report, it relates to this aspect of the process.

The findings are discussed in more detail in the main body of the report, which is complete with key findings, themes, impact and next steps.