GP Practice visits

During September 2017, Healthwatch Middlesbrough visited 41 GP practices across South Tees to provide practices with updated contact details and information leaflets. The visits were also used as an opportunity to identify what information was made available to patients in waiting rooms, what methods of communication were being used, and how patients with hearing loss were able to book appointments.

Practices had been given the new Healthwatch material and had been made aware of the visits but the majority of frontline staff were not expecting the Healthwatch representatives and few practices were displaying Healthwatch information. The report states that there were 9 GP Practices who had a text service or text to talk interpreting system to enable patients with hearing loss to book appointments independently, although it was noted that in other practices their were online bookings available, or options for carers/ relatives to make bookings on a patients behalf.

The report noted that Healthwatch recommend that they build a closer working relationship with Practices and also outlined their desire to be more involved with Patient Participation Groups to facilitate better information sharing.

The next steps for this project are to continue to look into issues faced by patients with hearing loss and also to follow up with all GP practices over the following 12 months, with an additional request that all promotional material for Healthwatch and the Independent Care Advocacy service is displayed in a visible and accessible area for patients.