Long Term Plan Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Report

Healthwatch Bath & North East Somerset, Healthwatch Swindon and Healthwatch Wiltshire investigated people's experiences of health and care services to inform the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) work conducted by the network. The surveys were answered by 691 and focus groups investigating Primary Care Networks, Frailty, Children and Young People, Learning Disabilities, engaged 95 people.

The report found that requesting advice on losing weight, knowing what food is healthy, managing stress, access to free gym use or affordable exercise was a high priority. Respondents said they would like better access to services. This was mainly to do with accessing an appointment with their GP when needed, but also included access to dentists and specialist support. People wanted better facilities to help them lead a more independent and healthy life as they get older, including more support to enable independent living. When asked about technology some raised concerns that this would take away access to face-to-face appointments or that they would not have access to the technology itself. There was significant positive experiences with cancer services as well as once support and treatment has been accessed. However, people continue to report long waiting times for urgent referrals and that autism or Parkinson's disease are hard to diagnose.

The STP responded with a number of recommendations including provide more public health information on healthy eating and exercise; review of service provision for conditions such as autism should be carried out; and Communication with the public needs to be clear, honest and open and without any jargon or acronyms.