What are mental health and community services like for people living in Lancashire and South Cumbria

 Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Cumbria and Lancashire worked together to gather feedback from 74 people who had used Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) services. The project was commissioned to inform the Trust's clinical strategy and covered a range of mental health and community services, including dentistry, community mental health teams, district nursing, physiotherapy and inpatient mental health services. Overall, respondents were generally positive about the care they received, particularly praising compassionate staff, good communication during treatment and the dedication shown during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Across services, staff were consistently identified as the main strength. Patients frequently described staff as caring, professional, supportive and approachable. Positive feedback was particularly strong for older adult mental health inpatient services, district nursing, the Home Treatment and Mental Health Liaison Team, and the Moving Well physiotherapy service. Respondents valued being listened to, receiving timely support during crises, feeling safe, and having access to staff who took time to understand their needs. The use of a combination of face-to-face and remote appointments during the pandemic was widely welcomed by many service users. 

Several recurring concerns emerged across multiple services. Long waiting times for appointments were highlighted in dentistry and community mental health services, while inconsistent communication about appointments and changes caused frustration for some patients. Many respondents wanted greater continuity of care, reporting that seeing different staff members reduced trust, required them to repeat their history and sometimes resulted in less personalised support. There were also calls for increased involvement of carers and families in care planning, greater access to peer support and life-skills programmes, and stronger links between health services and wider community support.

Healthwatch concluded that while many services delivered high-quality care, opportunities existed to improve consistency, communication and coordination. Recommendations included strengthening co-production with patients, improving appointment booking processes, increasing continuity of key workers, involving carers more effectively, improving access to community support services, maintaining a mix of digital and face-to-face care, and reducing excessively long appointment windows in services such as district nursing. These findings were intended to help shape Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust's future clinical strategy and service development.