Healthwatch Northumberland annual survey 2024

Tell us what you think!

Healthwatch Northumberland Annual Survey 2024

Every year we ask you to rate the NHS and social care services you and your family have used, in our short annual survey. Your answers help us to see how satisfied people living in Northumberland are with their experiences of care over the last 12 months, and if people are more, or less happy with services compared to previous years.

We’d also like your thoughts on where we should focus our work in the coming year. In previous years we’ve asked the open question, ‘Which services do you want us to focus on?’ This year we’re asking you to choose two from a list of services we hear about regularly, that you’d like us to focus on. We haven’t included GPs, dentists and mental health services as we know these will stay a priority for at least the coming 12 months and we will continue to focus on these services.

The services we’d like you to choose from are:

  • Audiology
  • Support coming out of hospital (hospital discharge services)
  • Pharmacies/Pharmacy First scheme
  • Care in the home
  • Physiotherapy
  • Issues affecting carers
  • Hospital services

Please let us know what you think online, or get in touch for a postal copy with freepost return. If you’d like to tell us your views over the phone please call 03332 408468, or text 07413 385275 to arrange a call back. Closing date is 6 May 2024.

Thank you for telling us your thoughts. Together we can make a difference to local health and care services.

Debra Carers Northumberland

Caring for carers: Debra’s story

Debra Blakey is the Chief Executive Officer of Carers Northumberland and one of our organisational board members. Debra has been on the board for six years, providing invaluable experience and insight. Debra spoke to us about the work of Carers Northumberland and the important relationship with Healthwatch Northumberland.

Debra says “Carers Northumberland is a charity that aims to improve the lives of unpaid carers in the county. We support unpaid carers of all ages, including adult carers of adults, young carers (aged under 18 years) and parent carers (caring for someone who is under 18 years with additional needs). Unpaid carers sometimes don’t see themselves as carers, as they are often a husband, wife, mother, father, brother, sister, neighbour, or friend, but they are providing vital support to someone who would struggle to manage without their help.

We offer advice, information and support to our 7000+ registered carers. We do this in a variety of ways, including via our telephone information line, carer groups, workshops and training, benefits and financial support, grants to enable carers to take a break from caring, support to navigate social care and health provision, plus trips, events, and activities.

I have worked for Carers Northumberland since 2008 (almost as long as it’s been going!) when I joined as an Administration Officer, and I’ve been in the role of Chief Executive Officer since 2018. I have a degree in Criminology and worked in both private organisations and for Northumbria Police before starting in the voluntary sector at Carers Northumberland. I am passionate about making a difference to people’s lives and having worked for a charity for over 15 years I couldn’t see myself working in any other type of organisation now.

I enjoy reading, going out to eat, and love visiting new places. I’m also a keen runner (well I run so that I can enjoy eating cake) and I believe in the benefits of exercise for mental wellbeing. I actually think I enjoy how good I feel about myself after a run more than the actual run itself.

Probably the achievement I am most proud of is securing funding to pilot a Young Carer Support Service to run alongside our existing service for adult carers.  We launched the service in 2020 during a global pandemic, but it has gone from strength to strength, and we are now working very closely with schools in the county to raise awareness of young carers in education to encourage early identification and provide tailored support.

Carers Northumberland has been an organisational board member of Healthwatch Northumberland since its inception, which highlights how valuable our relationship is. Both organisations are striving to improve the health and social care landscape for service users, patients and their families and carers and we have collaborated on several major pieces of work over the past ten years. Being able to feed the views of carers into Healthwatch Northumberland ensures that the carer voice is heard by key decision-makers in the county is invaluable.“

Carers Northumberland supports all carers of all ages and can be contacted by telephone: 01670 320025, email: info@carersnorthumberland.org.uk or visit the website.

Health Trainers online event

Online event – Health Trainers

At our next online lunchtime event on Friday 12 April, 1pm-2pm, you can hear from local Health Trainers Jack and Kirsty.

They will give an outline of what support is on offer to help to improve and maintain health and wellbeing, plus details of 1:1 clinics, healthy lifestyle programmes, Weigh & Go programmes, health checks, Health Walks and more.

They will also share some top tips for keeping well and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the session.

This session is free to attend and open to anyone who lives or works in Northumberland.

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

Sign up to our newsletter to hear about future events.

Think Pharmacy First

Think pharmacy first

Pharmacists can now provide treatment for seven common conditions without patients needing to see a GP, as part of a major transformation in the way the NHS delivers care.

Highly trained pharmacists at over 90% of pharmacies can now assess and treat patients for earache, impetigo, infected insect bites, shingles, sinusitis, sore throat and urinary tract infections (UTIs) for women aged 16-64 – without the need for a GP appointment.

No appointment is necessary and private consultations are available. Patients will be signposted to other local services where necessary.

By expanding the services community pharmacies offer, the NHS is aiming to help free up GP appointments and give people more choice in how and where they access care.

Don’t wait for minor health concerns to get worse – think pharmacy first and get seen by your local pharmacy team.

More information about Pharmacy First

If you would like to give feedback about a pharmacy you have used please get in touch.

Lady on a bus

Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme

If you’re referred to hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests by a doctor, dentist or another primary care health professional, you may be able to claim a refund of reasonable travel costs under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS).

What are the qualifying benefits and allowances?

You can claim help with travel costs if you or your partner (including civil partner) receive any of the following benefits:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Working Tax Credit (WTC) with Child Tax Credit (CTC)
  • WTC with a disability element or a severe disability element
  • CTC but you’re not eligible for WTC
  • Pension Credit Guarantee Credit
  • You receive Universal Credit and meet the criteria

You can also claim for help with travel costs if:

  • you’re named on, or entitled to, an NHS tax credit exemption certificate (if you do not have a certificate, you can show your award notice) – you qualify if you get child tax credits, working tax credits with a disability element (or both), and have income for tax credit purposes of £15,276 or less
  • you have a low income and are named on certificate HC2 (full help) or HC3 (limited help) – to apply for this certificate, you should complete the HC1 form: claim for help with health costs, which is available from your local hospital, Jobcentre Plus offices or the NHS print contract order line on 0300 123 0849.

How do I claim a refund?

To claim your travel costs, take your travel receipts, appointment letter or card, plus proof that you’re receiving one of the qualifying benefits, to a nominated cashiers’ office.

Nominated cashiers’ offices are located in the hospital or clinic that treated you. They’ll assess your claim and make the payment directly to you.

In some hospitals, the name of the office you need to go to may be different (for example, the General Office or the Patient Affairs Office). If you’re not sure, ask reception or Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) staff where you should go.

Some hospitals and clinics do not have cashier facilities. In this case, you can complete an HC5(T) claim travel charges form and post it to the address stated on the form.

You can make a postal claim up to three months after your appointment took place.

Useful numbers

  • Call 0300 330 1348 for the dental services helpline
  • Call 0300 330 1343 for the Low Income Scheme helpline
  • Call 0300 330 1341 for queries about medical exemption certificates
  • Call 0300 330 1341 for queries about prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs)
  • Call 0300 330 1349 for the prescription services helpline
  • Call 0300 330 1347 for queries about tax credit certificates
  • Call 0300 123 0849 to order a paper copy of the HC12, HC5 and HC1 (SC) forms
  • Call 0300 330 1343 for all other queries

 

More information about travel costs at the NHS website

Healthwatch Northumberland mid-year report July to December 2023

Mid-year trends in feedback Jul-Dec 2023

Between July and December 2023, we received detailed feedback from 422 individuals from talking to people at face-to-face events, telephone calls, emails, our website, social media, and other sources. This is significantly more than the previous six months (where we heard from 226 individuals between January and June 2023). We signposted 59 people to different organisations for further support. This is down slightly from the 61 people we signposted between January and June 2023. Our social media content had a reach of 77,000 and over 7000 engagements, and our website had 16,000 views.

The feedback we have had in the past six months has mainly been around four services.

1. GP services: 30% of all feedback received in July to December 2023 was to do with GP services. Accessing GPs and arranging appointments were the main issues being raised, with concerns about the quality of care being provided another common theme. However, approximately one in five comments we received about GP services were positive.

2. Pharmacies: 14% of all feedback received was to do with pharmacies, with over half of the comments being positive feedback about Allendale Pharmacy. This was in response to our online campaign in the autumn urging people to tell us about their pharmacy. The biggest concern, featuring in one in five comments, was around receiving incomplete prescriptions and supply issues at pharmacies.

3. Hospitals (unspecified department): Just over 10% of all feedback received in July to December 2023 was about hospitals in general. Just under half of this feedback was positive about the quality of care and the ‘brilliant staff’. The biggest concerns raised were about access, with a roughly equal split between long waiting lists and the distance patients needed to travel to attend appointments. These two issues combined featured in one in five negative feedback comments.

4. Dentists: Dentists made up 7% of the overall feedback we received. Unsurprisingly, getting an appointment with an NHS dentist was the predominant concern, with approximately three quarters of the feedback we received being about this issue. Unlike the feedback on the previous three categories, the sentiments expressed were overwhelmingly negative, with less than one in 25 of the comments we received about dentists being positive.

Read more in our mid-year report for July to December 2023.

Health and social care report Northumberland January 2024

January 2024 feedback

Health and social care feedback Northumberland January 2024

Difficulties getting a GP appointment featured the most in this month’s feedback, although there was a notable number of comments praising the service patients had received from their GP. The distance to travel was raised as a concern around hospitals but again, there was a sizeable number of positive comments praising the quality of care received in hospital. The third most common issue raised was accessing NHS dentists, with complaints around getting an appointment being the most common.
What did we get up to?

January got off to a busy start with many one-off sessions in the community, over and above our regular Here to Hear sessions. These helped us to gather feedback about Health Visiting Services. This a major piece of work looking into what’s working well and not so well in order to feedback to the NHS.

We analysed what we heard from service users about experiences of getting dentistry work completed, which is our contribution to research into the state of dentistry across the whole of the North East and North Cumbria. This is a joint project with the other Local Healthwatch in the region.

We launched a recruitment campaign for board members and volunteers to join our team. If you are interested in volunteering with us find out more on our volunteering page.

Find out more in our January 2024 feedback report.

Accessing dental treatment in the NE and NC

Experiences of NHS dentistry

Tell us your experience of NHS dentistry

People have been telling us about the challenges they face getting NHS dentistry.

Using your feedback we are working with the NHS Integrated Care Board in the North East and North Cumbria to help shape future services, including planning the next phase of the NHS dental recovery plan in the region.

Across the North East and North Cumbria, the local Healthwatch network is working together to tackle this important issue.

So if you live in Northumberland or anywhere else in the North East and North Cumbria region and have recent experiences with using or trying to access dental services, then share your experiences with us.

Tell us about your experience of NHS dentistry

We are the independent champion for users of health and care services in Northumberland. Your responses will inform decision-makers in the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board (who are funding this research), service providers and partners including Local Authority Public Health teams.

As a thank you for your time we are offering £100 of Love2shop vouchers to a lucky prize draw winner.

If you require a paper copy or have any questions please get in touch.

Please leave your feedback before Sunday 31 March 2024.

NHS talking therapies Northumberland

NHS Talking Therapies

The NHS is encouraging anyone struggling with feelings of depression, or anxiety such as excessive worry, panic attacks, social anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or obsessions and compulsions, to seek help through NHS Talking Therapies services. These are effective, confidential and free treatments delivered by trained clinicians, online, on the phone, or in person.
If you’re struggling with feelings of depression or anxiety, seeking help through an NHS Talking Therapies service can be one of the best steps you can take to overcome mental health issues and get back on track.
NHS Talking Therapies can help provide support and treatment for common mental health problems, such as

  • feeling anxious
  • feeling low and hopeless
  • having panic attacks
  • finding it hard to cope with work, life or relationships
  • struggling with flashbacks or nightmares about upsetting events from your past
  • feeling stressed
  • worrying a lot
  • obsessive thoughts or behaviours
  • fear of social situations
  • being afraid of things, such as spiders, flying or heights (phobias)

 

You do not need to have a diagnosed mental health problem to refer yourself to an NHS Talking Therapies service. Getting support as soon as you start having difficulties can help to reduce their impact.
For those whose first language is not English, talking therapies can be delivered through multi-lingual therapists or through confidential interpreters, and in British Sign Language (BSL) through SignHealth’s NHS Therapies for Deaf People service.
Your GP can refer you for NHS Talking Therapies, or you can refer yourself online

Please share with us your experiences of NHS Talking Therapies, or any other NHS mental health service that you or your family have used.

NHS health checks Northumberland

Get your NHS Health Check

It’s easier than ever to access NHS Health Checks

It is easier than ever for people aged 40 to 74 to get a free NHS Health Check, with the service now available in even more locations across Northumberland.

As part of a pilot project, Northumberland County Council’s Public Health Team has allocated up to £300k over the next three years to test the direct delivery of NHS Health Checks by its in-house Health Trainer Team.

This new way of providing services will run alongside the GP offer and will involve Health Trainers delivering checks in targeted workplaces and community settings.

Free NHS Health Checks, commissioned by councils as part of their public health responsibilities, help relieve pressures on our NHS and care system, save lives and prevent people from developing life-threatening conditions by assessing the risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and provide advice and support to reduce the risk of developing these conditions, as well as dementia.

Local authorities have a statutory obligation to ensure eligible residents are offered a check every five years from the age of 40.

To be eligible for a health check you must:

  • Be aged 40-74
  • Be registered with a GP in Northumberland
  • Have not had an NHS Health Check in the last five years
  • Have no pre-existing conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease or stroke
  • Not be on statins

More information is available by emailing healthtrainers@northumberland.gov.uk or you can visit the Living Well Northumberland website.

 

If you would like to tell us your experience of booking and having an NHS Health Check, or any other health or care service you have used, please leave feedback.