Covid-19: how is it for you?

Healthwatch Salford report on the results of a survey about local people’s experience of receiving health and social care during the Covid-19 pandemic in December 2020. They received 40 responses.

The majority of people who had experienced a COVID-19 test said the process was easy with one finding the home test difficult to book at the time.

Three in five people felt that the pandemic had affected their mental health. Anxiety and depression triggered by the uncertainty and isolation has been a common theme throughout this pandemic and December has seen an increase in these comments. Business owners talked about their businesses being open and then closed, then open and closed again. Teaching staff told Healthwatch that whilst they were on hand to give advice to parents and students and most government announcements about schools usually came at the start of a holiday or weekend which virtually wiped these essential rest periods out.

Half felt the pandemic had affected their physical health with the lack of exercise being the most common cause for concern. People mentioned about the closure of gyms and prolonged illness following COVID-19 as contributing factors to being less active and in turn, gaining weight

Three quarters needed to access health or care services during the last month with most of those being able to access the service that they required. A third of those however could not access a range of services including GP‘s, dental services and various outpatient departments.

The majority of people have sought their information on the pandemic from the Government or by watching the television, during the last month. This was followed by newspapers, radio, social media and talking with friends and family as other popular ways.