Patient opinion in East and Central Brighton Primary Care Network

Healthwatch Brighton and Hove undertook a survey of local people registered at the nine GP surgeries in the East and Central Brighton PCN. They wanted to examine the use and awareness of screening and other special services, opinion of community-based services, use and opinion of mental health services, use and opinion of the GP online booking system and perceived ability in using digital technology.

• The majority were aware of some screening services such as bowel cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening and quit smoking services. However, people were largely unaware of other services such as abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, sickle cell and thalassemia screening, diabetic eye screening, annual health checks for long-term conditions and health checks for people aged 40-74.
• Overall, women were noticeably more in favor of the community-based services compared to men.
• People’s preferred location to receive the community services was in a community hall or centre, followed by a home visit and at a school.
• The main reason for not using the online booking system was being unaware that such a service was available. And opposition to online booking appeared to be an issue of personal preference rather than people lacking the technology and skills.
• The eConsult or equivalent system was found by several to be complex, clunky and took too long to complete.

The report contains recommendations by Healthwatch to improve awareness of health screening programmes and ways of accessing them.