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Your feedback: February 2025

Your feedback: February 2025

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Your NHS and social care feedback February 2025

The services we heard most about this month were GP services, followed by mental health services.

For GP services, the main issue was getting an appointment. People found it difficult to get through on the telephone or were being told to book an appointment online. Around a sixth of the comments were in praise of their GP practice.

We heard concerns this month around difficulty getting access to mental health services, including a couple of examples where support had been withdrawn. Over a quarter of the comments were positive about services.

This month’s focus

As well as our usual Here to Hear sessions in Alnwick, Ashington, Hexham and Morpeth, we also have been visiting communities we don’t hear from very much, such as those living in rural communities and refugees. Our Annual Survey launched this month, asking people to ‘join the conversation’ on health and social care services. Behind the scenes we have been analysing the responses from the Audiology Services project. The results will be published next month. February’s online talk from Kidney Care UK was well received and two thirds of attendees went on to sign up for our newsletter.

Positive feedback example

“Excellent care from Consultant Psychiatrist and a Cognitive Analytic Therapist. With understanding, advice and improved medication I began to recover from a prolonged, severe depression. Once I was a little better the therapy has helped me become more resilient against further episodes. Nothing about the service I would change. It was a struggle to get my GP to make the referral though.”

Tynedale resident

Negative feedback example

Someone told us that their GP surgery tries to persuade patients to make appointments via its online system (Klinik) rather than ringing. They told us that they struggle to make an appointment online as they find the booking system too complicated and a very long process having to type lots of information – they said they find this difficult. The person was supported with making an appointment by a Citizens Advice Northumberland staff member who also described the process as being too long and complicated.

Ashington and Blyth resident

How we made an impact

“This is such an informative session, thank you so much. I had no idea of all of this support available. I have never been informed of any of this by GP surgery, or what I can do to slow things down. Actually got letter with CKD [Chronic Kidney Disease] on from GP surgery and had no idea about it. I will be promoting the support you have available to colleagues and family/friends.”From an attendee at our online session in Feb 25 given by Kidney Care UK

Information and Signposting Service

We were asked for more information and support around issues including dementia, mental health support, dentistry, cancer care, audiology and support for unpaid carers.

Read more in our short summary.

 

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Your feedback: January 2025

Your feedback: January 2025

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Health and social care feedback January 2025

The top issues you told us about this month were hospitals and GP services. We also had feedback on audiology services, as we’d asked what you think of these services as part of a piece of work we’re doing at the moment.
The biggest issues raised about hospitals were poor quality of care and distance to travel to get to appointments. Around 1 in 9 pieces of feedback about hospitals were positive.
Poor quality care was the most frequently raised concern regarding GP services although around a fifth of the comments we received about GPs were positive about the quality of care.
For audiology services the biggest issue was the length of time it takes to get an appointment.

This month’s focus

We restarted our Here to Hear drop-in sessions after Christmas with a new venue at Hexham General Hospital. We also visited Alnwick Dementia Café, Hexham Auction Mart, Seaton Delaval Welcome Café and took part in the Fishermen’s Mission SeaFit event at Amble.

At these events, plus online and through our networks, we promoted our Audiology Services survey. The results of this piece of work will be published early spring.

Our free online session was on fibromyalgia, given by Fibromyalgia Action UK, and was well attended by both the public and professionals.

Positive feedback
A woman told us that her daughter recently suffered a suspected heart attack and they called 999. The ambulance was two hours away so they were asked to make their own way to NSECH. When they got to hospital they were met by a volunteer who was extremely helpful and took the daughter to A&E in a wheelchair without having to be asked.
Once at A&E, she was triaged in 20 minutes and then had thorough medical investigations with a huge range of tests. NSECH staff were fantastic and diagnosed a muscelo-viral strain rather than a heart attack.
In addition the volunteers in the shop charged the mother’s phone whilst they were there so that she could keep in contact with the rest of the family.
Ashington and Blyth resident

Negative feedback
A person told us that they have to see different GPs each time they visit their surgery, either due to availability or GPs leaving. They commented that it can be difficult to build up any rapport when seeing a different GP and they don’t know your medical history – the person queries how they can be up to date with your history within such a short appointment time. They said that appointments feel rushed as they’re conscious that there are so many other patients waiting in line to see the GP. The person told us they feel that the surgery is good at seeing people when they need urgent care, often seeing them on the same day, but it isn’t so easy to book an appointment in advance for routine care. They have found there are no appointments showing online

Tynedale resident

Impact

“Thank you, really helpful, I understand the condition much better now. As a nurse in a hospital [I] did not deal with Fibromyalgia unless the patient was admitted with another condition which was our main priority.”

Feedback from an attendee at our fibromyalgia online information session.

Signposting and Information Service

You asked us about services including dementia support, psoriasis support, dentists, care in the home, housing support, Patient Transport Services, making an NHS complaint, audiology services and ADHD support.Where possible, we were able to signpost people to further help, support and information around this issues.

Read more in our short summary for January 2025.

Trends in feedback July to December 2024

Trends in feedback July to December 2024

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Between July and December 2024, we received detailed feedback from 388 people at face-to-face events, via telephone calls, emails, our website, social media and other sources. This is less than the previous six months (we heard from 417 people between January to June 2024). Between July and December 2024, we signposted 61 people to different organisations for further support. This is down slightly from 65 people in the previous six months but is a similar proportion of all feedback received (signposting/requests for information, July to December 2024: 15.7% of overall feedback; January to June 2024: 15.6% of overall feedback).

Our social media content had a reach of 105,000 and our website had 17,500 views, compared to 23,000 between January to June 2024.

The feedback we have had for the past six months has mainly been around two service areas: GP services and hospitals.

GP services

Just over a quarter (27%) of all feedback we received in July to December 2024 was to do with GP services which was less than between January to June 2024 (29%). The main issues we received feedback on were poor service and access issues. The access issues were largely divided into three categories: perceived pressure by the patients to use online services, difficulties with the online systems when using them and difficulty getting an appointment (whether by phone or online).

Hospitals

23% of all feedback received during the six months was about hospital services. The biggest concerns were around poor communication and to a lesser extent, poor quality of care and lengthy waiting lists. The poor quality of care when people got to hospital was also frequently raised. It wasn’t all negative feedback, with around one in seven of the comments we received about hospitals being positive. However, this is a reduction on the previous six months where approximately one in four comments about hospital services were positive.

Signposting/requests for information

17% of the contacts we received in July to December 2024 were requests for information or signposting support. The subject matters asked about were very varied with no real themes emerging other than for mental health support which occurred in about 7% of requests for information.

Trends

In the six-month period of July to December 2024 the percentage of positive comments rose slightly from 12% in July to 17% in December and the trend line of percentage of negative comments remained roughly the same over July to December 2024 (see Figure 2). This is an improvement on the previous six months, which showed a decline in satisfaction over the period of January to June, and has gone back to the long-term trend over the last two years which shows an overall improvement in the Northumberland residents’ perception of services (Figure 3).

Insights

Although there was a slight downward dip in the first half of 2024, the long-term trend over the past two years in the public’s perception of services has continued to improve, judging from the proportion of positive to negative comments we received in July to December 2024.We have heard from fewer people with disabilities over the six months than in the first half of 2024, but we are still hearing from a greater proportion of respondents with a disability than the county’s own demographic distribution. We have heard from a greater proportion of men and boys of all ages than in the first half of 2024. This continues a slow but steady improvement in our engagement with males over the past two years. We are working to improve this further.We are still receiving concerns about service from one GP practice in particular. We will raise the matter with them so they can address the identified areas of concern.

 

Read more in What you told us: Trends in feedback July to December 2024.

Your feedback: December 2024

Your feedback: December 2024

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Health and social care feedback December 2024

The top three services we heard about this month were GP services, hospitals and Audiology Services.

Difficulties getting an appointment and quality of care were the biggest issues we heard about for GP services.

For hospitals, the distance to travel to get to an appointment and discharge services were the subjects we heard about most.

Access issues, such as the distance to travel to receive the service and long waits to receive an appointment, were the most common subjects we heard about Audiology Services.

This month’s focus

This month we held our Here to Hear drop-in sessions in Bedlington, Alnwick, Newbiggin and Hexham. December was a shorter month due to Christmas which has contributed to the lower number of contacts this month.

In addition to the Here to Hear sessions we have been to the Meet and Eat session at Allendale and Hexham Auction Mart. New for January 2025 will be our drop-in at Hexham General Hospital on the third Thursday of every month.

We have launched our work looking at Audiology Services, and our joint bid for a research project into Persistent Physical Symptoms was successful. This project will start early summer.

This month’s online talk was from STAMMA, the national stammering charity. The session had a good attendance and was very well received. A recording of the session can be found on our online events webpage.

Impact

A Customer Services Team Leader from Northumberland County Council told us “I have just shared the cost of living booklet, including the foreign language translations, with the team earlier this morning – this is a fab resource for us.”

Negative feedback example

A person told us their elderly relative had to attend hospital in Newcastle. This required a 100 mile round trip from their relative’s house in North Northumberland, with the person having to travel a long way to their relative’s house first to take them there by car.
The relative was seen by a doctor and then discharged, but told by nursing staff the doctor had asked to see them again the next day for a check-up. The person pointed out that this was very inconvenient given the distances, but was simply told that is what the doctor wants.
North Northumberland resident
                  
Positive feedback example

“I’ve been using the Joint Musculoskeletal and Pain Service (JMAPS) since May this year. It’s been fantastic. All of the staff are very busy but always friendly and on time. The physiotherapist I’ve been seeing in particular has been amazing and my care has always been outstanding at every appointment. One of the only health professionals I’ve seen who I have had total confidence in. They have been very professional, caring and reassuring, a real credit to this department.

I would 100% highly recommend JMAPS. I use a lot of different services across several hospitals but this is without a doubt the best care I have received. There has been a definite improvement in care here since I last visited in 2017. A very positive experience.”

Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley resident

Service providers we heard about and number of times

Newcastle Hospitals (audiology) 9
Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital 3
Wellway Surgery Morpeth 3
Alnwick Medical Group 3
The Gables Medical Group 3
Wansbeck General Hospital 2

Read more in our short summary for December 2024

Feedback November 2024

Feedback November 2024

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Over 100 people contacted us this month, to leave feedback, or use our Information and Signposting Service.

We heard the most about GP services with patients feeling that the quality of care was poor. Patients not being listened to, unhelpful reception staff, difficulties getting an appointment and issues with the online system being the most common complaints. However, just over a quarter of the contacts we had regarding GP practices were positive.

Patients contacted us equally about hospitals and pharmacies. For hospitals the main concern was around poor quality of care plus some feedback about living such a long way from the hospitals.

Almost three quarters of the comments regarding pharmacies were positive and the remaining quarter were concerns around prescriptions.

We continued to hear concerns about the decline in service from audiology services, making up 6% of the feedback this month.

This month’s focus

This month we have been out and about at our usual Here to Hear sessions as well as attending a wellbeing event in Bellingham, an event from Northumberland Cancer Patient and Carer Group in Blyth and the Carers Rights Day event in Morpeth.
We have started researching more into the recent concerns raised around audiology services and held a focus group at Vision Northumberland. We are asking people in Northumberland to share experiences of audiology services.
We continued to promote Northumberland County Council’s Pharmacy Needs Assessment survey and had 1,072 responses in total.
Our online talk this month was from the Macular Society, giving an overview of macular degeneration, the effects of the disease and the advice and support provided by the Macular Society across Northumberland.
Our new mental health support guide was published and free copies are available on request.
Our cost of living information booklet is now available as easy read and also in Arabic, Bengali, Kurdish, Turkish, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Impact

A representative of the Northumberland Stop Smoking Service at Northumberland County Council said “As a result of today’s session (online talk by The Macular Society) I have contacted the Tobacco Dependence Service at the Royal Victoria Infirmary to seek out a contact person for the Opthalmology Department re. referring smokers into our service.”

Positive feedback example

Person’s elderly relative has to attend regular diabetes clinic check-ups at Hexham General Hospital and finds them to be excellent. As the person lives in a remote area on a farm, the staff sometimes travel to carry out checks at the person’s home instead. The person told us that this is extremely useful for times when family are unable to get their relative to the hospital. They are very happy with the service and the care received.

Tynedale resident

Negative feedback example

A caller told us “My relative waited nine months to get a hearing test after being referred by their GP. When they arrived at the clinic in Berwick the nurse/audiologist had forgotten to bring the correct equipment. Today they are still waiting to hear when they have to go back. This is terrible. They are in their eighties and live alone and find it hard to communicate and engage. I live seven hours away and have been trying to find who to call to help get them tested.”

North Northumberland resident

Read more in our short summary for November 2024

Feedback from October 2024

Feedback from October 2024

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This month 312 people gave us feedback on NHS and social care experiences, asked a question through our Information and Signposting Service, or came to one of our events.

16% of what you told us was positive, 55% was negative, with the rest being neutral or mixed.

GP practices and hospitals were the services we heard about most this month. Issues about online access for patients was the most common concern raised for GPs. We started to hear more about this during September, and this month makes up a third of all feedback about GP practices. Poor communication and the distance to travel were the most common concerns reported for hospitals. Poor communication was an issue either with the patient, between GP and hospital, and/or between between hospitals.

This month’s focus

We have had a busy time out in our communities with our Here to Hear drop-in events. We also attended Northumberland County Council’s World Mental Health and World Suicide Prevention Day sessions in Berwick and Cramlington, and Health and Wellbeing events in Haltwhistle, Wark and Blyth.
Our Annual Event, held at The Maltings, Berwick was a hive of activity, with around 100 people attending the Information Marketplace in the morning. Over 25 organisations from across NHS, voluntary and community services were there to let people know about the care, support and services they can offer.
At our afternoon theatre session 85 people came along to hear our review of the year and from guest speakers about mental health services, the new Berwick Hospital and community services in the area.
Working with Northumberland County Council we have launched the Pharmacy Needs Assessment survey which will run until the end of November.
This month’s online talk was from Carers Northumberland. 20 people attended to find out more about the services available to unpaid carers.
Impact
At Northumberland County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board this month, the Principal Social Worker for Adult Social Care reported that our work had helped Adult Social Care redesign its website and also ‘helped rewrite and reframe Carers Assessment Training for Social Workers’.
Positive feedback example
A member of public told us they had a very positive experience with the early intervention psychosis team (delivered by Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust). Their daughter is currently receiving
treatment and they have not only been really good with her but also with the family: keeping them in loop, checking in etc.
Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley resident
Negative feedback example
Patient lives on the border between Northumberland and Cumbria (on the  Northumberland side) so receives split care between Carlisle Hospital and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust/Newcastle
Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust hospitals.
This can sometimes cause issues with the trusts not communicating with each other and the patient not knowing which one they’ll be referred to, when.
Tynedale resident
Service providers we heard about and how many times
Brockwell Medical Group 5
Northumbria Healthcare Trust 4
Alnwick Medical Group 4
NSECH 2
Union Brae Surgery 2
Hexham General Hospital 2
We also heard about 23 other organisations once each.
Read more in our short summary.
September 2024 feedback

September 2024 feedback

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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

How easy is it to give feedback to your GP?

How easy is it to give feedback to your GP?

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In October 2023 we undertook a ‘health check’ of all GP practice websites in Northumberland across seven primary care networks (PCNs). There are 36 practice websites representing 45 individual surgeries. This was to see how easy it was to find information about how to raise a concern or give positive feedback and to see if signposting information for support in raising a concern was up-to-date and factually correct.

Why we did it

Patient feedback is an important part of improving patient experiences and outcomes, enabling the service provider to identify potential problem areas. Having clear processes also gives the opportunity for concerns to be dealt with swiftly to prevent escalation and to avoid undue confrontation with practice reception staff.

In most GP services complaint situations, the appropriate course of action is for a patient to initiate a complaint directly with their GP practice. Patient feedback to Healthwatch Northumberland has shown that many people seem unaware of how to resolve a complaint or concern through their GP surgery and what support options are available to them.

There have been recent changes to advocacy support in Northumberland, with VoiceAbility taking on the NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Northumberland (ICAN) service, as well as national changes, with Integrated Care Boards(ICBs) now handling NHS primary care complaints – these were previously dealt with by NHS England.

We wanted to explore if these changes had been reflected on GP practice websites. We also wanted to gather evidence of the need for consistent messaging in order to ensure that the process of raising a concern is easy from a user’s point of view, and that signposting information is factually correct, so that patients have a clear understanding of their rights and options.

How we did it

Our staff and volunteers carried out research by visiting each GP practice website to review its complaints information. All of the websites were accessed via desktop computers and, where possible, using smartphones (29 out of the 36 websites) to ensure equal accessibility.

We are aware of other accessibility issues, for example, language barriers, and will carry out further research on this.

What we found

  • Nearly 60% of GP websites were found to be equally accessible from both desktop computer and smartphone.
  • There was a 50:50 split on whether or not information and support for raising a concern was easy to find on the websites – some information was found under different headings on the websites rather than on the main complaints page.
  • Complaints information, support options and signposting information was very muddled. Even where correct support organisation details were given, they weren’t always accompanied by the correct contact details or explanations of how the service could help.
  • In some cases, there were additional steps that needed to be taken when making a complaint online, for example, having to download forms, which could be a barrier to patients making the complaint.
  • There was a lot of variation in information and processes even between practices within the same PCN, for example, within one PCN, two practices have almost identical looking websites, but one practice directs patients to send complaints to NHS England, whereas the other directs them to the ICB.
  • Within another PCN, again, four practices have very similar looking websites, but two of them require the patient to attend the surgery in person to collect a complaint pack, one requires the patient to put a complaint in writing by post and only one practice offers the option of making a complaint online via email.

Read our full findings and recommendations

Trends in feedback January to June 2024

Trends in feedback January to June 2024

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Between January and June 2024, we received feedback from 417 individuals from talking to people at face-to-face events, telephone calls, emails, our website, social media and other sources. This is approximately the same as the previous six months (we heard from 422 individuals between July and December 2023). Between January and June 2024, we signposted 65 people to different organisations for further support. This is up slightly from 59 during the previous six months. Our social media content had a reach of 110,000 and almost 7000 engagements, and our website had 23,000 views, compared to a social media reach of 77,000, over 7,000 engagements and 16,000 website views between July and December 2023.

The feedback we have had for the past six months has mainly been around three service areas:

GP services

29% of all feedback received in January to June 2024 was to do with GP services (roughly the same proportion as July to December 2023). The main issues we received feedback on were difficulty getting an appointment and poor service. However, approximately one in four comments we received about GP services were positive which is an increase on the previous six months (one in five comments were positive between July and December 2023).

Hospitals
25% of all feedback received during the six months was about hospital services. The biggest concerns were around the distance to travel and lengthy waiting lists. There were also concerns raised about poor communication and poor quality of care when people got to hospital. However, just under one in three of the comments we received about hospitals were positive.

Dentists

Dentists were mentioned in 7% of all the comments we received. The vast majority of feedback was to do with the difficulties getting an NHS appointment. About 10% of respondents who fed back about dentists reported that the dentists they had spoken to were only accepting private patients. Approximately one in ten of the comments we received about dentists were positive.

These three categories made up almost two thirds (just over 61%) of the feedback we received in January to June 2024. This is up from the previous six months when these categories amounted to less than half of the feedback received (48% in July to December 2023).

Over a quarter of the feedback for GP services was about three particular GP practices. We will contact these practices individually to discuss the themes that have been raised in the feedback.

Signposting/requests for information

16% of the contacts we received in January to June 2024 were requests for information or signposting support. The top three areas were:

  • Adult social care – enquiries were mainly about getting care in the home and care assessments
  • Cost of living support – this included requests for information around benefits advice
  • COVID-19 vaccinations – enquiries were around eligibility and vaccination sites

Read more in feedback trends for January to June 2024 report.