Your experiences of surgery waiting lists: improving communication and supporting marginalised communities
Download (PDF 1.14 MB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Bristol worked with the North Bristol NHS Trust to understand the experiences of people from seldom heard groups on waiting lists for elective care. They undertook a survey, a focus group and interviews to understand people's experiences, speaking to a total of 45 people.
The report findings point to the opportunity for the following changes to support people from inclusion groups who are on a waiting list for surgery. Patients articulated their preference for more frequent communication during their wait for surgery. Patients felt that in addition to a medical-based pre-operative assessment, consideration should be given to personalised needs assessments of holistic factors (social, financial, housing) in advance of elective surgery.
Despite a plethora of online sources of health information, patients’ responses indicate they want to be directed to evidence-based sources and would like to have links to these in one place. Patients used some online “waiting well” resources but also wanted help in their community, in-person support and Social Prescribing.
The findings of this project make a case for an integrated health and social care approach to pre-rehabilitation across organisational boundaries.
The Trust should consider an audit of how patients’ preferred method of communication is recorded