June: Digging into people's health and care stories
In this issue
In June, 4,100 pieces of public feedback were shared with us. In our regular update on some of the issues people have raised with us, we look at:
Six ways staff shortages are impacting patients
With the NHS publishing a 15-year plan to boost workforce numbers, we look at what patients have told us in recent months regarding how current staff shortages affect them.
- A&E: People have to wait longer to be seen and notice staff struggling to cope;
- District nursing: Teams face challenges in meeting the demand for services like wound dressing;
- Antenatal services: Women going to appointments must repeat themselves all over again to a new midwife;
- Community mental health: Those referred for talking therapies find their appointments cancelled due to a lack of staff;
- Inpatient mental health: A lack of staff on wards meant that people's care was affected, including access to activities; and
- Pharmacy: Some people needing medication found their pharmacy closed due to a lack of staff, while others queued for a long time to get their prescriptions.
Please can there be some support for my local pharmacy. Huge queues today: only one member of staff attending to patients. Totally overwhelmed lady!
Read our NHS workforce plan response
Why accessible healthcare information is so essential
The Accessible Information Standard gives disabled people and people with sensory loss the legal right to get health and social care information they can understand and communications support if needed.
We've previously heard that people often need more support communicating with the health service. Services can overlook communication needs, and support is only sometimes in place. This causes people to rely on family, friends or carers, which takes away their control over their health.
I am hearing impaired and cannot hear on the telephone. During pandemic when telephone consultations were the norm, my GP would write a transcript of our conversation to ensure I had received and understood our conversation. Now Covid is over I am always given face to face conversations. This practice is exceptional.
When healthcare services get things right for people's communication needs, they feel included and supported. They feel that healthcare professionals listen to them.
Find out how the NHS can help fix this issue
How the cost of living is still affecting health
Whilst it's now summer, we are still hearing about how the rising cost-of-living affects people's health and access to healthcare.
We've heard that people have had to stop activities that help manage health conditions, like swimming, because they can no longer afford the cost.
One local Healthwatch heard from hospital staff that patients were coming in dehydrated and not eating properly due to the cost-of-living.
Due to rising costs, some people must make hard financial choices about paying for food or getting dental treatment. We've also heard that people who need new glasses can't afford to have their eyes tested or pay for an updated prescription.
My GP advised me to go to the opticians due to vertigo and headaches. I haven't done this as there's no way I could afford glasses
Our recent research on the impact of the cost of living on people's decisions on their healthcare found that people who receive disability benefits, are on means-tested benefits or are aged 18 – 24 are particularly hard hit.
How can people be helped with the cost of living
Understanding the higher use of urgent care services
A review in 2021 into Covid-19 and health inequalities identified several electoral wards in Lancashire and South Cumbria with high levels of deprivation and higher-than-expected rates of urgent and emergency admissions.
Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen spoke to 105 locals to find out what was behind the higher usage of urgent and emergency care.
They found that residents:
- Are not clear on what each health service offers or what they could do to manage symptoms at home;
- Were put off going to the GP because they were offered remote appointments and had to wait in telephone queues to get through;
- As a default, went to the Emergency Department. A lack of employment or activities also resulted in residents attending Emergency Department as 'something to do and a story to tell'; and
- Were put off accessing health care services because they felt judged, not listened to, and not seen as experts in either their bodies or as parents of their children.
The local Healthwatch made several recommendations to help address these issues. For example, they suggested that NHS could improve communications by avoiding terms that people don't understand, such as 'social prescribing'. Producing a guide to services in the multiple languages spoken locally would also help to increase awareness.
Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen plan is to now dig deeper, focusing on the experiences of Eastern European residents and South Asian heritage men's management of long-term conditions.
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