Feedback feed forward quarter 4 (January – March 2017)

Healthwatch Bristol’s theme for planned engagement during January, February and March 2017 was society, health and wellbeing. The focus for the quarter looked at the Accessible Information Standard and the Substance Misuse Services recommissioning by Bristol City Council.

Healthwatch Bristol staff targeted outreach engagement on community groups with communication issues and those with experiences of accessing substance misuse services.

The key themes (5 + comments on a similar issue) pulled together from all of the feedback heard by Healthwatch Bristol in Quarter 4 are as follows: Commentators’ experiences, both positive and negative, show that patients appreciate it when health visitors and other professionals giving post-natal support provide clear and consistent information to parents about their own and their children’s health; people are receiving high-quality treatment in health and social care services; commentators reported on the ease of making appointment for prostate examinations; commentators praised services they and their families had received at Bristol Children’s Hospital; commentators reported a perceived lack of awareness of patient needs which could result in poor practices, and felt that staff in primary and secondary care settings could benefit from training in disability awareness; current substance misuse services are well received, new services need to be accessible in terms of location, and inclusive in terms of service names; people have reported that they, or their family members, have been discharged from secondary care prematurely, without the appropriate measures and/or follow-up care in place to ensure that people are safe and have the necessary support and/or equipment available to continue their recovery at home.

Healthwatch Bristol documented 5 recommendations within the report which includes a response from the providers.