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Healthwatch Northumberland mid-year report July to December 2023

Mid-year trends in feedback Jul-Dec 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.

Healthwatch Northumberland mid-year trends January to June 2024

Mid-year trends in feedback Jan-Jun 2023

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Between January and June 2023, we received detailed feedback from 226 individuals from talking to people at face-to-face events, telephone calls, emails, our website, social media and other sources. We also heard from an additional 705 young people in specific pieces of work including our ‘How are you feeling?’ young people’s campaign and the Autistic Young People and Mental Health Services project. We also heard from another 230 people of all ages when we spoke to people about the closure of Lloyds pharmacy in Manor Walks, Cramlington.
The feedback we have had over the past six months has been mainly around three services:1. GP Services -Accessing GPs and arranging appointments were the main areas we heard about, although issues around prescriptions also featured strongly (27% of all feedback received from January to June 2023).

2. Hospitals – Dissatisfaction with the service at hospitals – both inpatients and outpatients (16% of all feedback received in January to June 2023).

3. Dentists – Accessing NHS dentists (14% of all feedback received during January to June 2023).

Read more in our mid-year report for January to June 2023.