The wharf house by the lock

Ruth Ashdown left a big London practice with one idea: that a patient should be able to say by the third visit whether the treatment was working, and that the practice should want to hear the answer. The visit-three review has been the rule at Bridge since the first week. It costs us follow-ups. It is also why the average is 3.6 visits and why the reviews say what they say.

The practice grew by adding people who count things. Daniel arrived with a tape measure and the conviction that the desk is usually the diagnosis. Karolina came from care-home work and built a programme around staying on your feet. Mei Lin took the two-year paediatric diploma and then wrote the page that says, in plain words, what osteopathy can and cannot do for a baby. Sophie is the chiropractor who left a chain because she did not want to sell 24-visit plans, and Tom sends people downstairs when what he finds is not a massage problem.

We are a family practice in the old sense: the same people treat the grandmother, the desk-bound parent and the baby, often in the same week. Hands first, honest numbers, and a lock outside the window.