The people of Littlehampton experience and views of local health services.

Healthwatch West Sussex sought the views of people living in Littlehampton of their experiences and views of health services serving the town. These were gathered through a range of engagement activity including open day events where 1500 people spoke about their experiences. In addition, over 25,000 comments were posted on social media.

GP Practices.

A key area of concern involved the consequences of the closure of the Arun Medical Group GP practice, which closed on 31st October 2016. People experienced problems in registering with a new local GP practice, receiving New Patient Checks and the extra demand on fewer GP practices made seeing a GP of choice more difficult.

Most GP practices had introduced a telephone triage system for managing the demand for appointments. Whilst there were some positive comments in relation to one GP practice, on the whole people viewed the system negatively, calling it intrusive, feeling like a test and questioning the ability of reception staff to assess medical conditions. In response, one practice agreed that the triage system needed to be explained more fully and clearly to patients and would work with Healthwatch to develop a video.

Communication.

People’s experiences of communication with health services was mixed with issues relating to not being informed of key information, not being listened to and taken seriously. In response GP practices planned to undertake a programme of education for staff, focusing on communication and signposting to services.

Adult and child mental health services.

Whilst there were some positive comments about the services provided by MIND, on the whole the experience of children and adult mental health services was negative. Issues included problems and delays in gaining access to support such as Child and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS), the psychiatric support team and the local mental health unit. There appeared to be a specific problem in relation to children and adults experiencing ADHD, learning disabilities and autism.

In response the Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust would develop better partnerships with other key services to improve the experience of children and adults.

Urgent and Emergency care including Worthing Hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.

People’s experience of using the NHS 111 service was mixed with the most common issue being the assessment process being too long and unnecessary. Those who made comments in relation to the Ambulance Service were all positive. The experience of using Worthing Hospital was also mixed with some high praise for staff and the treatment they received. The main issue with Accident and Emergency was the time waiting to be seen and missed diagnosis of more serious problems.

Worthing Hospital’s response was that the service is constantly adapting in line with patient feedback which is discussed with the team to ensure that we learn from our mistakes and agree what corrective actions can be put in place to ensure that patients have a positive experience when they receive care in A&E.

Maternity services

The maternity service at St Richard’s Hospital was praised as being a good experience with the care and support given by staff being most highly valued.

The experience of services at Worthing Hospital was not positive with issues around communication between health staff at time of delivery and when further medical support is required. One person made a formal complaint about their experience and felt that the response was inadequate.

In response Worthing Hospital stated that ‘We do realise that this area requires improvement and we are exploring options to see what could be done to provide a better experience for mothers in this situation.’

Worthing Hospital Eye Clinic.

The issues raised were the long waiting times from referral to seeing the consultant and when you have an appointment the time it takes to be seen, ‘There is always a long wait and you are lucky if you are seen within a couple of hours of your appointment time.’

The Eye Clinic has now relocated to new premises at Southlands Hospital and this will provide improved facilities and a new system of referrals and appointments.