Covid-19 in Trafford: 2021 update
Download (PDF 1.31 MB)Summary of report content
This report from Healthwatch Trafford looks at people’s continued experiences of COVID-19 in Trafford and the impact on health and care services. They carried out a survey and included questions on vaccines as during this period the vaccination programme became a prominent issue. The survey was open to the general public.
The key findings include:
- As before, a significant number had tried to access services during the pandemic. The biggest reason for not accessing services was feeling it was unnecessary, which once again matched their previous findings.
- GPs, dentists, and hospital outpatients were commented on most. This mirrored their earlier report, but dentists and outpatients changed places for 2nd and 3rd most mentioned.
- They heard about ongoing missed appointments across all services, with people not always being seen. However, people also told them that services were responding as best they could.
- GPs use of telephone and video continued to be welcomed as an effective way to maintain services during the pandemic, and they heard that dentists were having to restrict which treatments they could offer.
- Across a range of areas people had noticed the new safety measures in place and generally welcomed them.
- Half of the respondents were more aware of the Community Hubs within Trafford compared to their last report, and GP surgeries, social media, television, friends, and family were the top sources of information.
- Most people said their mental health was unaffected by the pandemic, though there was a significant portion that said it was slightly worse. People talked about missing socialising, anxiety, and feeling generally negative.
- Vaccines were a new topic in this report. They found generally strong support for taking the vaccine, with many respondents having already received it. A key reason people wanted the vaccine was to prevent catching COVID-19 and slow it’s spread. There was also support for returning society to ‘normal’ through use of the vaccines and by protecting health services. However, they did also receive a small number of comments outlining concerns about the vaccine.