Your feedback March 2024

Your feedback March 2024

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland March 2024

In March the top issues we heard about were difficulties getting an appointment with a GP or a dentist, and the distance to travel to hospital appointments. Like the previous month we had a lot of positive comments about the quality of care received in hospitals. For the first time since we started providing these monthly reports, we also had a handful of positive comments about getting an appointment at a GP surgery in a reasonable timescale

What did we get up to?

We held our Here to Hear drop-in sessions in Bedlington, Alnwick and Morpeth and also attended the Prudhoe Health and Wellbeing event, Northumberland Parent Carers’ Forum Annual Conference, Vision Northumberland’s technology event and the Locality Coordinator’s event at Dalton Village Hall. Our online talk was delivered by Harrogate and District Foundation Trust on the Growing Healthy Northumberland 0-19 service.

Find out more in our March 2024 feedback report

What you told us February 2024

What you told us February 2024

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland February 2024

In February there were three main areas of concern, with roughly equal amounts of feedback about difficulty getting an appointment with a GP or a dentist, and the distance to travel and lengthy waiting lists to be seen at hospitals.

There were also a good proportion of positive comments about the good standards of care received from GPs and hospitals.

What did we get up to?

In addition to our usual Here to Hear sessions, we did a number of one-off sessions across the county.Some of these were to support our health visiting services project and we heard from parents and carers at Bellingham Family Hub and Haltwhistle Hub. Other sessions were an opportunity for us to join existing events, such as the CarersNorthumberland group meeting, the Thriving Together network event in Berwick and the Longhoughton Health and Wellbeing event.

We also were commissioned to hear from the residents of Coquetdale about potential changes to primary care services including the use of a mobile health unit.

We held two online sessions this month, from the British Liver Trust and Coping with Cancer. The Coping with Cancer talk was rescheduled from January when we experienced technical issues. The cancer event was very well attended, with more guests than had signed up for the original session.

Find out more in our February 2024 feedback report

 

Tell us what you think!

Tell us what you think!

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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

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

This survey is now closed. Please get in touch if you would like to leave feedback about a health or social care service.

Caring for carers: Debra’s story

Caring for carers: Debra’s story

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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.

Online event – Health Trainers

Online event – Health Trainers

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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.

This event has now passed – watch the recording

Sign up to our newsletter to hear about future events.

Think pharmacy first

Think pharmacy first

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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.

Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme

Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme

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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

Trends in feedback July to December 2023

Trends in feedback July to December 2023

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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.

January 2024 feedback

January 2024 feedback

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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.

Care home forums: what you said

Care home forums: what you said

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Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic we hosted regular online forums for relatives and friends of those living in care homes to tell us about the impact of visiting restrictions and ways they have been keeping in touch.

Those who attended these forums said that it helped to give them a voice and it was helpful to meet with other people in a similar situation. It was agreed that the group would continue to meet once every three months to discuss any issues or concerns. The minutes from the previous meetings and other useful information about care home visiting can be found below.

When the group last met on Tuesday 20 February, we discussed respite care, discharge from hospital and Enter and View.

Minutes from 20 February 2024

Care Home Online Forum – 20 February 2024

Minutes from 8 November 2023

Care Home Online Forum – 8 November 2023

Minutes from 27 July 2023

Care Home Online Forum – 27 July 2023

Minutes from 17 April 2023

Care Home Online Forum – 17 April 2023

Minutes from 9 January 2023

Care Home Online Forum – 9 January 2023

Minutes from 30 September 2022

Care Home Online Forum – 30 September 2022

Minutes from 9 May 2022

Care Home Online Forum – 9 May 2022

Minutes from 7 February 2022

Care Home Online Forum – 7 February 2022

Minutes from 8 November 2021

Care Home Online Forum – 8 November 2021

Care home visiting information

Read Essential Care Giver Myth-buster

 

The date of the next online care homes forum is to be confirmed. To register or leave feedback outside of the forum, please email Helen Brown: helenb@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk or call 03332 408 468.