Young People's experiences of Health and Social Care

Healthwatch York's Core Connectors undertook a survey and interviews to understand young people's experience of health and social care.  They reached 152 people in total.

The report looks at the impact of the cost of living on young people's access to health and social care, including food, healthcare like dentistry and eye care; cost of housing and transport.

Waiting time was a prominent issue faced by research participants. Young people complained that access to GP appointments was very difficult and that when they had these appointments, sometimes doctors had to have issues such as gender dysphoria explained to them or not being inclusive toward young people with autism. Phone appointments were found to be challenging too, as young people found it difficult to fully explain their issues adequately to healthcare professionals.

Education related issues that young people spoke about mainly included exam-related stress and pressure, a lack of help within educational settings, managing a work life balance and rental costs for student accommodation.

Money and finance related difficulties were also found to have had a negative effect on young people’s mental wellbeing, with students saying that they were struggling with the cost of living crisis, paying rent and feeling “guilty” for treating themselves by going against their budgets.

Young people mentioned that healthcare has a positive impact on their mental and physical health due to good experience with specific organisations, those were Mind and Spectrum First Education. Easy access was also mentioned, this had a positive impact as it meant young people were not waiting too long and left struggling, so it was effective and efficient.

Young people felt that York would be a healthier city if the following issues were addressed:

• Waiting times for healthcare
• Better access to mental health services and trans affirming care
• Access to services via transport

The experience of transitioning from children’s to adult healthcare services are mainly negative. The key issues were lack of support and abrupt transitions, a decline in care quality, increased responsibility & independence, waiting lists & access, communication & information gaps and financial changes.

64% of young people who answered the survey have no awareness of the support groups in their community. 21% of young people are aware but only 9% of those actually attend support groups. Support groups mentioned the most were specific education based groups, as well as the Over the Rainbow Cafe based in the city centre for LGBTQ+ support.

The responses regarding dental care were very mixed, with some people having positive experiences, expressing the helpfulness, professionalism and ease of booking (especially with private dentists). However, a significant number of people have had trouble accessing NHS dental care, the most common complaints being long wait lists, difficulty registering with an NHS dentist, cancelled appointments, dentist turnover, and poor communication. And for private/emergency dental care the biggest issue is the cost, and puts many people off.