Your feedback March 2026
Your NHS and social care feedback March 2026
Top issues
This month we heard about issues with hospital outpatients appointments including insufficient parking and poor communication. We also received feedback about difficulties accessing audiology services and GP appointments.
This month’s focus
This month we presented our first Stellar Award to the Hyperacute Stroke Unit team at Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital.
Our Stellar Awards celebrate the people and services who go the extra mile to provide positive health and social care experiences for people across Northumberland
We held our regular Here to Hear drop in sessions at Bedlington, Alnwick, Ashington, Morpeth and at Hexham General Hospital.
We also attended some additional face-to-face sessions at Northumberland County of Sanctuary in Ashington, the Meet and Eat session in Allendale, Hadston House, and Hexham Livestock Mart.
Throughout the month we promoted our Annual Survey and aim to publish the findings by the end of April.
This month’s online talk was from Autism in Mind which covered the support available for autistic adults. This was a very popular event, attracting our largest audience for 2025-26.
Positive feedback example
A woman and her husband came to our Hexham Here to Hear drop-in session to tell us that she had been in Haltwhistle hospital for ten days. She was very happy with the care she had experienced. The staff were very friendly and supportive and nothing was too much bother for them. Excellent service!
Tynedale resident
Negative feedback example
Discussion with member of the public who is an NHS hearing aid user. States that they are having long waits for appointments to get hearing aids tuned. Has not struggled so much with getting parts but appointments for tuning more of a problem and it can be a struggle with hearing properly in the meantime.
North Northumberland resident
Impact
We were recognised for our contribution to Northumberland County Council Director of Public Health’s annual report: “I would like to thank Public Health team members for their individual contributions and Healthwatch Northumberland for their valuable input into understanding healthcare access.”
Information and Signposting Service
We were able to help people find the information they need on a range of issues and services, including local hearing aid support clinics, sight loss support groups, hidden disability lanyards and homeless support.
