Dee and Gina's Summary Report

As part of Leeds’ citywide How Does It Feel For Me? work to understand if they are delivering person-centred joined-up health and care, Healthwatch Leeds followed Dee and Gina’s experiences of health and care over 10 months. Dee and Gina are a couple living in East Leeds. Both have long-term mental and physical health conditions. Gina also has Asperger's and they are both carers for each other. Dee and Gina wanted to take part in the project so that services can learn from the people who use them and help other people who might be in a similar position as them.

The report centres around the ‘3 Cs’ – communication, compassion and coordination. For Gina and Dee these are closely linked – when communication is good, effective communication follows. The report looks at access and choice for both the person needing care and the carer.  

Rather than recommendations, the report poses a set of questions: 

1. At a system level, what needs to happen differently for all our services to co-ordinate well? 
2. What do Dee and Gina’s experiences tell us about the importance of having a culture of compassionate care, and how can we ensure that this is consistent across the system? 
3. What do we need to do as a system to improve communication so that people like Dee and Gina will always have a good quality experience and good outcomes? 
4. How might Dee and Gina’s experiences have been different if services had been operating to the principles of an integrated care model – i.e., co-designed, jointly commissioned and delivered in partnership to achieve shared outcomes?