Urgent care consultation survey

Healthwatch Wandsworth wanted to know what factors were important to local people when choosing services in an ‘urgent situation’. Healthwatch Wandsworth developed a survey based on key considerations around urgent care commissioning. The survey was open from 14th November 2017 to 3rd May 2018. Healthwatch Wandsworth also used the survey during their regular outreach at local events. Additionally, they conducted the survey in the waiting areas at Clapham Junction Walk in Centre, A & E at St George’s Hospital and Queen Mary’s Minor Injuries Unit to gain responses from people who use urgent care services.

Healthwatch Wandsworth received a total of 71 responses to the survey.

A central theme emerge from the survey was the concern over waiting times to get an appointment with a GP and the pressure this then places on other urgent care services. A number of respondents also reported waiting for a long time when attempting to receive care at other services such as walk-in clinics and A&E. Some negative comments about the GP knowledge were linked to those who had more positive experiences of getting what they needed from walk-in clinics and A&E.

Healthwatch Wandsworth included 5 recommendations within the report.