Patient awareness of NHS medical services Millway patient

This project set out to explore awareness and use of different medical services available in Barnet, amongst residents attending a GP surgery. It was also an opportunity to ask residents how they would like to receive information about local services and to gather initial views on a leaflet that provides comprehensive information of the different medical services in Barnet and when to access them.

To engage with a significant number of patients, Millway Medical Practice was approached as a key location to carry out this project and they expressed an interest in the research. Millway Medical Practice is a large medical practice in Mill Hill, with over 18,000 people on their practice list. The group decided to undertake two cohorts of engagement sessions with patients at the surgery, using a short questionnaire exploring their understanding and usage of NHS services.

Overall, Healthwatch Barnet engaged with 390 people across the different dates, 194 in March and 196 in November 2017. The key themes of the findings included awareness of different services, use of different services and how people want to receive updates about healthcare services. Through the engagement sessions, it emerged that high numbers of people (up to 92%) were aware of pharmacies and WICs. However, patient awareness of NHS 111 was lower (78%). It also emerged that patient awareness of the different services was higher than their use.

This report contains 4 recommendations specifically around communication methods used by NHS services.