The health and care experiences of people living in Calderdale during the Covid-19 outbreak
Download (PDF 297.59 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Calderdale undertook research into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local community. In total they spoke to 496 people.
The majority of responses received related to NHS care, in particular people’s experience of accessing their GP surgery (253 contacts, 47%), pharmacy (82, 15%) and routine hospital care (83, 15%). Other service types commonly commented on were community services (39, 7%), 999 and 111 (30, 6%) and dentists (26, 5%).
There were a number of key themes in the responses. These included:
- Access to services – covering limitations to face to face access, service closure and telephone access
- Digital access – covering the use of online booking systems and video call appointments
- Communication between staff and patients – covering the lack of information that has been made available about how services have changed, and missed opportunities to interact with people
- Quality of care – covering person-centred and flexible support
Feedback is mixed for all of these themes, with many people appreciating the necessity for change during the outbreak, but feeling that their experience could have been improved.
The report looks at how the pandemic has affected different groups’ experience of health and social care. Specific questions were asked about the impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown period on people’s wellbeing. For almost all respondents, there has been a mental health impact.