Healthwatch Lancashire visits Headway
On 7th November, we attended a Headway event at the Salvation Army in Preston. Headway is a UK-wide charity which works to improve life after brain injury.
Read more about Headway here
Our involvement at the event was as a guest speaker, where we informed 56 Headway members of the role of Healthwatch, including how they can share their feedback about health and social care services. The group had not heard about Healthwatch and the work we do, so it was a great opportunity to raise our awareness as well as providing support and signposting to those that needed it.
There was great discussion around the group’s health and social care experiences, with many experiencing barriers when accessing services. There were concerns raised around wait times for appointments, getting into doctors for appointments and appointment letters not being accessible. Below highlights some of the feedback we received:
“It is so hard to get an appointment, you are on the phone for 20 minutes and it can be difficult. I am unwell and I can’t be on the phone for long. The care itself once you get an appointment, I can’t fault but getting an appointment is a nightmare.”
“I have been waiting for a neurology appointment at Preston hospital for 2 years now with no communication.”
“I received a letter from the hospital to say that I hadn’t turned up for my appointment. It said that I have got a new appointment in 4 weeks but there is no date and time. I have tried calling a lot with no answer. I got through to them today and they were very rude and didn’t listen to me.”
“I don’t understand why people can’t communicate better. I have been on a wait list for a long time and I haven’t received a letter or a phone call to help support me.”
“My relative has to take regular medication and the surgery won’t help her do this via the phone or face to face. They ask her to do it online and it really upsets her. She’s had a lot of health problems, and she can’t manage technology, they don’t put anything in place to help and support her.”
What do we do with your feedback?
You may wonder what we do with your feedback once we receive it. Here are two examples of how we have used your feedback to help improve care experiences:
Positive experience:
One individual spoke about their positive experience at Blackpool Victoria Emergency Department. We have fed this back directly to the Trust and have since heard that the Hospital Chair, Steve Fogg, has asked the hospital to get in contact with this individual to thank them and discuss their care experience.
Negative experience:
A member of the group shared with us that they had received a letter from Royal Preston Hospital stating that they had missed their appointment and a new appointment had been arranged in four weeks. However, there was no date or time specified. This individual was also struggling with the letter due to their poor vision and had been trying to contact the hospital department over the telephone for a few weeks, with no luck. When they did get in contact, the individual felt the receptionist was abrupt and would not clearly explain the situation.
During the session, a Healthwatch representative supported this individual by ringing the department and getting the details of the appointment. This individual was very grateful for our support. This is just one example of poor accessibility to health care services.
What next?
Healthwatch Lancashire will be revisiting the Headway group in February to continue to listen to people’s experiences. We were also signposted to a further support group to visit during this session, which we will be attending in March to engage and collect further feedback. This will help to establish themes emerging, which Healthwatch can use to amplify people’s voices and contribute to improving these experiences.
Do you have feedback you want to share with us? There are many ways you can do this. Contact us here.