Health and social care feedback July 2023

What you told us: July 2023

Health and social care feedback Northumberland July 2023

In July the top issues we heard about were difficulties getting GP appointments and finding an NHS dentist. You also told us that some pharmacies were providing incomplete prescriptions. We did however, hear some positive feedback for the service received at dental appointments.

This month as well as attending our usual Here to Hear sessions to hear from the general public, we attended specific targeted groups to get feedback from people we don’t hear from as often.

We hosted our regular online Care Home forum and at our monthly online session we heard from Dr Charles Shepherd of the ME Association who spoke about Long Covid. The session was very well attended – watch the recording of Dr. Shepherd’s presentation.

Read more in our ‘at-a-glance’ report below.

Healthwatch Northumberland report July 2023

Menopause online event

Menopause online event

Menopause online event

Join us at our free menopause online event on Friday 8 September, 1pm-2pm, to hear from Jenny Haskey from The Menopause Charity.

Jenny will talk to us about what the menopause is, its impact on our future health and the treatment and lifestyle options which can help to manage symptoms. She will also give us information about useful support and resources provided by The Menopause Charity.

There will be a chance to ask questions after the presentation.

The session is suitable for anyone wanting to know more about the menopause and what support is available, including those experiencing menopause and their partners, friends and family members. It is also suitable for professionals who want further information about how to support those affected by the menopause.

Please note the session is not intended to provide specific individual clinical advice.

Register now and we will send you a link to join closer to the event.

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This event has now passed

Healthwatch Northumberland Annual Survey and Conversation report

Annual Conversations: what we heard

Annual Survey and Annual Conversations 2023

Each year we run an Annual Survey to ask about people’s experiences of health and social care over the previous 12 months.

Last year we wanted to get more detailed feedback from people who we may not usually hear from, and who may not always respond to official surveys about their experiences, through our ‘Annual Conversations’.We heard from people across Northumberland either during conversations within a group setting (focus groups) or as an individual one-to-one conversation. These conversations were not on a set health or social care service/topic but were led by what was important to the person or group and their recent experiences.

We worked with community partners across Northumberland to help us facilitate many of those conversations and we are extremely grateful to them as well as the people who provided valuable feedback to us.

During January and February 2023 we also ran a short online survey which was open to all residents of Northumberland to complete. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this by telling us about your experiences.

Read more about what we heard in our Annual Survey and Annual Conversations this year.

Social prescribing online event

Social prescribing online event

Free online social prescribing event

Join us for our next free online lunchtime event on Friday 11 August, between 1.00pm and 2.00pm. We’ll be joined by Lianne Watkins and Christine Mitchell, Living Well Coordinators for the West Northumberland Primary Care Network, who will talk about social prescribing and how it can help you and your family.

Many things affect our health and wellbeing, not just medical issues. In some cases your doctor, or other healthcare professional, may refer you to the social prescribing service. Social Prescribers can direct you to services that can help with things such as counselling services, arts and creative activities, social activities, employment and training and financial advice.

In the session Lianne and Christine will talk about how the service works, who can be referred and how you can be referred to this free service.

This session is suitable for anyone who is registered with one of the 12 GP practices within the West Northumberland PCN.

There will also be a chance to ask questions.

Find out more about the Living Well Coordination service.

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health and social care feedback Northumberland May 2023

What you told us: June 2023

Health and social care feedback Northumberland June 2023

During June you told us about your continued frustration at your experiences of making a GP appointment. Poor communication, both with the public and between services, came out strongly as a theme this month – sometimes with serious repercussions.

This month we have reviewed our Here to Hear session venues. We have visited a lot of potential venues to gauge how they will help us hear from different communities. Further details of the new venues will be announced soon.

We also published our Annual Report for 2022/23, which gives an overview of the work we have done over the past 12 months in Northumberland, to engage with communities and where we have worked with commissioners and providers to highlight key issues.

Read our short report below to find out more.

Healthwatch Northumberland report June 2023

 

 

 

 

Meet our new Chair of the Board

We welcome a new chair to our board this month.

Peter Standfield of Morpeth takes over from former chair David Thompson who has stood down following six years in post.

Peter has had a varied career which includes 20 years of military service, over 14 years in the NHS and ten years in the private sector, where he has experience as both a Chief Executive and Management Consultant.

He says “David and the team have established an impressive reputation for Healthwatch Northumberland over recent years. I’m looking forward to working closely with a wide range of partners to continue enabling improvement in local health and social care services, for the people of Northumberland.”

Healthwatch Northumberland, which is delivered by Hexham-based charity Adapt (NE) and one of 152 local Healthwatch organisations in England, is in its eleventh year of operation. With the power to ensure that people’s voices are heard by the government and those running services, Healthwatch listens to what people have to say about services and shares their views to make change happen.

Peter adds “These may be challenging times for health and social care nationally, but we are lucky that the picture in Northumberland is generally very good. Of course, there is always room for further improvement, and local communities can be assured that we at Healthwatch Northumberland will continue to do everything we can to work positively with our health and social care partners to ensure that residents of Northumberland are at the heart of the services provided.”

Peter will represent Healthwatch Northumberland at high-level meetings across health and social care in the region.

Healthwatch Northumberland mid-year trends January to June 2024

Mid-year trends in feedback Jan-Jun 2023

Between January and June 2023, we received detailed feedback from 226 individuals from talking to people at face-to-face events, telephone calls, emails, our website, social media and other sources. We also heard from an additional 705 young people in specific pieces of work including our ‘How are you feeling?’ young people’s campaign and the Autistic Young People and Mental Health Services project. We also heard from another 230 people of all ages when we spoke to people about the closure of Lloyds pharmacy in Manor Walks, Cramlington.
The feedback we have had over the past six months has been mainly around three services:1. GP Services -Accessing GPs and arranging appointments were the main areas we heard about, although issues around prescriptions also featured strongly (27% of all feedback received from January to June 2023).

2. Hospitals – Dissatisfaction with the service at hospitals – both inpatients and outpatients (16% of all feedback received in January to June 2023).

3. Dentists – Accessing NHS dentists (14% of all feedback received during January to June 2023).

Read more in our mid-year report for January to June 2023.

 

NHS 75 birthday Healthwatch

NHS turns 75

NHS turns 75

5 July 2023 marks 75 years of the National Health Service.

Treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS touches all of our lives. When it was founded in 1948, the NHS was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Today, nine in 10 people agree that healthcare should be free of charge, more than four in five agree that care should be available to everyone, and that the NHS makes them most proud to be British.

Find out how you can get involved with the milestone birthday celebrations, from attending events in your local area to supporting the work of the NHS.
Get involved in the celebrations

Share your stories online of local people and professionals who are helping to make the NHS better using the hashtag #NHS75 or email england.nhs75@nhs.net.

If you’d like to share your recent experiences of using NHS services please get in touch.

Healthwatch Northumberland annual report 202223

Annual Report 2022-23

Healthwatch Northumberland Annual Report 202223

Our latest annual report highlights the work we have done over the past 12 months in Northumberland, to engage with communities and where we have worked with commissioners and providers to highlight key issues. This year over 1900 people shared their experiences of health and social care services with us, helping to raise awareness of issues and improve care. Almost 5000 people came to us for clear advice and information about topics such as mental health and the cost of living crisis.

Listening to your experiences

Services can’t make improvements without hearing your views. That’s why over the last year we have made listening to feedback from all areas of the community a priority. This allows us to understand the full picture, and feed this back to services and help them improve. Read the report to find out more about how we’ve listened to the experiences of local people, including our work with families to see if NHS mental health services were working for autistic children and young people, how we’ve kept the lack of NHS dentistry provision high on decision makers agendas, and what we heard from people in Cramlington about how the closure of a 100-hour pharmacy will affect them.

Hearing from all communities

Over the past year we have worked hard to make sure we hear from everyone within our county. We think it’s important to reach out to the communities we hear from less frequently, to gather their feedback, make sure their voice is heard and that services meet their needs. This year we have reached different communities by:

  • Regularly visiting a local fishing community to hear from fishermen and their families
  • Listening to people who don’t often have their say through our Annual Conversation
  • Working with schools to hear more from young people in Northumberland
  • Holding monthly face-to-face drop-in sessions across the county

Information and support

Our Signposting and Information Service provides confidential support and free information to help you understand your options and get the help you need. Whether it’s finding a GP surgery, how to make a complaint or choosing a good care home for a loved one – you can count on us. This year we’ve helped people by:

  • Providing up-to-date information people can trust
  • Helping people access the services they need
  • Hosting monthly online information sessions about a range of conditions
  • Supporting people to look after their health during the cost of living crisis

Next steps

In the ten years since Healthwatch was launched, we’ve demonstrated the power of public feedback in helping the health and care system understand what is working, spot issues and think about how things can be better in the future. Services are currently facing unprecedented challenges and tackling the backlog needs to be a key priority for the NHS to ensure everyone gets the care they need. Over the next year we will continue our role in collecting feedback from everyone in our local community and giving them a voice to help shape improvements to services. We will also continue our work to tackle inequalities that exist and work to reduce the barriers you face when accessing care.

Our priorities for 2023-24

  • Social Care: We will gather the experience of those residing in care homes using our Enter and View powers. We will work with Northumberland County Council as it develops its Adult Social Care Plan ensuring our communities’ views are heard.
  • Health: We will focus on how people access services, especially where there are specific barriers, for instance due to the job they do or where they live. We will continue to gather experiences of primary care services.
  • Volunteering, Communications and Engagement: We will increase the number of volunteers and the diversity of people involved with Healthwatch Northumberland. We will build on our 2022 experience by using more targeted focus group ‘conversations’ to gather the experiences of Northumberland residents.

View the Healthwatch Northumberland Annual report 2022-23

 

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