BPAS Taunton Central

Ratings - Termination of pregnancy

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

Date of assessment: 6, 7 and 27 August 2025. We carried out this assessment in line with our routine assessment priorities and to review the service’s previous rating of requires improvement. We assessed the 5 key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. During our assessment we spoke with patients, observed staff delivering care and looked at patient records. We reviewed policies and performance information. We also spoke with all grades of staff and the leadership team.

BPAS Taunton Central provides early medical abortion and surgical abortion under local anaesthetic or conscious sedation. It also provides counselling and contraceptive advice. Services were provided by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) at this location.

The service was rated overall as requires improvement at our last assessment. At this assessment the rating has improved to good. In our assessment we found women were kept safe and protected from avoidable harm. The service had a positive culture with capable leaders. There were effective processes to monitor the quality and safety of the service and ensure women could access the service. However, the service was working on data improvements regarding the auditing and analysis of service users’ outcomes.

People's experience of this service

During the assessment we observed women’s care and spoke with women using the service. We reviewed information the provider collected to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Women told us they were well-supported, treated with dignity and respect, and staff were kind and caring. Women could access care to meet their needs and felt outcomes were good. One woman described her experience as person-centred and said she was given time to ask questions. Another said she was made to “…feel so safe, understood and comfortable throughout the whole process.”

We refer to women of any age in this report. However, we recognise some transgender men, non-binary people and people with variations in sex characteristics (VSC) or who were intersex may also use these services.