Remote Mental Health Survey: Your experiences of telephone and video call support
Download (PDF 253.65 KB)Summary of report content
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many people had their face-to-face mental health support stopped. To make sure people could still access support, remote support was offered. Having attended the Buckinghamshire Mental Health COVID-19 strategic response group since April 2020, Healthwatch Bucks identified that remote appointments was an area lacking service user feedback. They also noticed an increase in complaints to The Advocacy People in Buckinghamshire around delays and lack of access to mental health support.
This project explored the patient experience of remote support for mental health treatment from adult mental health services since April 2020, including:
- Treatment people had received
- Any previous treatment they had
- Changes made to their treatment since COVID-19 pandemic
- Access to their support
- Their experiences of appointments
Methodology:
An online survey, developed with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust who handle mental health services in Buckinghamshire. It was live during May and June 2021 and received 54 valid responses.
Recommendations:
We recommend that Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust:
- ensures that service users know what to do if they have technical problems during a remote session.
- maintains a mixture of delivery types and notes the low preference for video calls.
- ensures service users know what further support is available to them after their treatment has ended.
- ensures service users who have come to the end of their course of treatment are informed of this in a format appropriate to their individual needs.
- continue to gain patient feedback around remote support, particularly for service users who feel remote support does not fit their needs