This month we heard from 210 people. The issues you told us about most were hospitals and GP services. Poor communication was the most common issue with hospitals, either with the patient or between GP and hospital and/or between hospitals. Just under a third of the feedback we received praised the quality of care within hospitals.
Access to GP services was the most reported concern, with issues about difficulty getting an appointment being the most common reason for access concerns. There appears to be emerging concerns around patients and online access too. Similar to hospitals, around a fifth of the comments we received were complimentary about the quality of service received.
Just over 5% of your feedback was about the audiology service, with concerns raised about the decline in services.
This month’s focus
We spoke to lots of people at our Here to Hear drop-ins and attended 11 additional events. At Allendale Meet and Eat, Hexham Auction Mart and rural roadshow events at Bowsden and Wooler, we heard from farmers and people living in rural locations. We also went to mental health events in Ashington, at Cramlington Memory Cafe and the first of Northumberland County Council’s World Mental Health Day events across the county which was held at Queen’s Hall in Hexham.
We gave a presentation to Tynedale Soroptimists at their monthly meeting and attended Queen Elizabeth High School’s Freshers’ Fair, with a view to recruiting more young people as volunteers.
Working with North East Ambulance Service, we have been asking for people’s views on how it delivers services, and how it supports those who contact the service. Feedback will help shape future planning and delivery.
Our online talk this month was from Diabetes UK with 20 people joining us to hear more about the support available.
Impact
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust asked to link our cost of living information webpage to its Children’s Health Services App. A representative said “We are increasingly having conversations about the impact of cost of living on our families. Our practitioners are frequently having discussions with our service users to promote financial wellbeing … The aim of our App is to provide parents and carers with access to reliable, trusted resources to manage their journey from conception to their child entering adulthood.”
Negative feedback example
A woman has two children with complex health conditions. Both children have to go to hospital for urgent treatment on a regular basis. She told us she is continually frustrated by the inability of hospitals in Northumberland and Newcastle to share information with each other.
She understands this is due to incompatible information systems. In an emergency she has to take the children to the nearest hospital which is a Northumbria Healthcare hospital. She says they do not have the same level of speciality in her children’s condition as Newcastle Hospitals, which delays treatment and they end up having to go to the Royal Victoria Infirmary anyway.
Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley resident
Positive feedback example
A patient told us their GP surgery provides an excellent service. They recently had a concern and began filling in an eConsult online form. Before they had completed all the details, they were sent an alert telling them they needed to contact the surgery about the issue.
They called and got a timely appointment with a medical student who was being supervised by a GP – this was fine for them and worked well. The patient has no complaints about the service provided by the GP.
Tynedale resident
Service providers we heard about and how many times
Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital 5
NENC Integrated Care Board (as commissioner) 4
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3
Wooler Health 2
Wansbeck General Hospital 2
Royal Victoria Infirmary 2
Bellingham Medical Practice 2
Wellway Medical Group 2
Hexham General Hospital 2
Allendale surgery 2
Bedlingtonshire Medical Group 2
We also heard about 20 other organisations once each.
Download a pdf version of the Healthwatch Northumberland summary of feedback for September 2024
