‘Voice of the People’ Survey Report 2021

Between April and July 2020 Healthwatch Bedford Borough undertook a survey to listen to local people about their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were ordered to only leave their homes for essentials such as food, medicines, exercise and to care for a vulnerable person. The survey findings were presented in a report entitled ‘Behind Closed Doors’. This report looked at the in-depth needs of our diverse population when accessing health and care services during exceptional times. Between March and May 2021, 101 people responded to a follow up survey, this time looking at non-COVID specific activity and care during the pandemic.

Methodology:

Healthwatch Bedford Borough used SurveyMonkey to construct an online survey. Questions were informed by feedback and comments we have received during the pandemic. The survey was actively promoted through the Healthwatch Bedford Borough website and social media platforms, and through stakeholders including NHS and local authority commissioners, service providers, faith leaders and other community groups, all of whom encouraged participation.

Conclusions and recommendations:

• Receptionists have a gatekeeping role within GP practices. This can mean a pressured role, talking to people who are unwell and feeling vulnerable, frustrated and sometimes unheard or misunderstood. Training for receptionists on how to manage difficult phone calls is recommended.
• Many patients have benefited from the new technological approaches to care introduced during the pandemic, however, concern is raised about groups who report difficulties in accessing services. Recommendation is that the evaluation of technological approaches includes a risk/benefit analysis and considers the potential for specific groups to be excluded or disadvantaged, and the rejection of a ‘one size fits all’ approach to look at equality impact.
• For current users of mental health services, close to half (45%) felt unable to access the support they needed. Recommendation that mental health service providers take a ‘deep dive’ into patient experience during this time to understand how patients feel about the care given to them by the teams they are assigned to and use this insight to inform the ongoing transformation of mental health services.
• Stories of delayed surgery or inpatient procedures were difficult to read. Recommendation is anyone who has had a procedure postponed is contacted as a matter of urgency, informed of the specific reasons for the delay and given a date on which their procedure will take place.
• Healthwatch Bedford Borough suggests that people with learning difficulties have been disproportionately and adversely affected by the pandemic. In recovery plans they recommend that their needs are prioritised as a way of addressing the health inequalities that have widened during the pandemic.
• During the pandemic management of some long-term conditions was placed on hold, impacting existing health inequalities. For this reason, we suggest that there will be a shadow of unmet health needs as the existing crisis subsides. We recommend that this group be prioritised in recovery plans to avoid the widening of pre-existing health and care inequalities experienced by this group of people.