Prevention and self-care

In 2019, Healthwatch South Gloucestershire undertook a survey in partnership with Sirona care & health to find out how local people look after themselves. They also ran five Facebook polls to support the survey findings. They found that there was an overall understanding of what the term ‘self-care’ meant to people in terms of eating well, exercising and getting rest. The lack of availability of GP appointments came up consistently throughout the survey as being problematic. The survey results suggested that most people still use their GP as a first port of call. Respondents listed socialising with friends and family, eating healthily and being active as the top three things that help them to keep happy healthy and well. The report made three recommendations for Commissioners of community health services. This included carrying out targeted engagement across South Gloucestershire to ensure that people understand and adopt healthy lifestyles, provide more support and promotion of smaller community groups and promote awareness of what other community health services are available to the public to free up appointments at GP surgeries. The report contains no response by the Commissioners.