What matters most?
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Healthwatch Wokingham Borough undertook a survey to understand what local people’s health and social care priorities were to inform their future workplan. They spoke to 100 people.
The overarching theme was access to information. People found it difficult to find the services that would be helpful to them. This was due to several factors including website content that was not easy to find or was not updated, lack of public awareness of the support available and inability to contact services due to long waiting times by telephone or not being able to use technology.
The primary concern shared in the survey was difficulty in accessing GP surgeries. Some are finding it difficult to access their GP’s because they struggle to get an appointment or because only digital appointments were offered. GP surgeries continue to be very busy as they manage their existing responsibilities alongside the vaccine roll out. Intelligence gathered from the public throughout the year shows there are differences in the access to, and availability of, GP appointments in the local area.
Health and fitness are important to people in Wokingham Borough and there was a desire to improve fitness or lose weight following deterioration of health during lockdown. The support needed to achieve their goals ranged from medical help with existing health conditions to free or good value resources and information about what form or exercise would be most beneficial.
Mental health services were the area that most people wanted to see Healthwatch involvement. People were concerned about the difficulties they or their loved ones are facing as they transition out of lockdown.
Carers highlighted challenges that they are facing such as getting support from adult social care during the pandemic and co-ordinating ongoing medical care for loved ones.
Dental services were well rated by survey respondents and most of the comments received were positive. This is interesting because calls to the Healthwatch Wokingham helpline suggest that many people have had difficulty getting a dental appointment or finding an NHS dentist during the pandemic.