News and reports

In her speech to the Conservative Party Conference today, the health secretary repeated much of what she had announced on 22 September in ‘Our Plan for Patients’, with slightly less rigid language over patient access to GPs.

Healthwatch Sandwell are aware the challenges people face regarding getting GP appointments, especially during the pandemic. Our report on The Patient Experience of Accessing Primary Care Services will follow shortly.

We would like to capture what surgeries are doing to improve the patient experience as this will help:

• Inform patients about improvements the surgeries are making

• Build relationships with Practice Managers and Patient Participation Groups (PPG)

• Promote PPGs

Today the public have been invited to take part in a National Moment of Reflection to mourn the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and reflect on her life and legacy.

Healthwatch Sandwell would like to share their deepest condolences to the Royal Family following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll.

A priority project for 2022/23 is exploring The patient experience of accessing primary care services – this report gives an insight to initial findings.

‘Patients in waiting’ – experiences of hospital treatment pathways and how to change to ‘patients in preparation’ for treatment.

A report by Healthwatch England (HWE) states that people in deprived areas are waiting longer for treatment2. Based on the average deprivation score Sandwell is ranked as the 12th most deprived local authority in England3. Healthwatch Sandwell (HWS) wanted to build upon the HWE findings to explore what the backlog in NHS treatments means for Sandwell resident patients and consider what might improve the ‘patients in waiting’ experience.

Today we held our Annual Public Meeting.

If you were unable to join us you can always look through our presentation to keep up to date and see what we talked about during the event.

Eveappeal are delighted to launch our free, interactive, health-education lesson plans for young people aged 7-13, covering the topics anatomy, menstrual health, HPV and cancer.

See what the Healthwatch Sandwell Team have been doing in our summer news letter. Why not save the dates from our ‘where we will be section’ and come and talk to us and share your Health and Social Care experiences.

Find out the signs and symptoms of monkeypox, what to do if you think you have it and who is eligible for a vaccine.

HWS engaged with Sandwell residents who were ‘patients in waiting’ for hospital treatment to hear about their experiences and any impacts of Covid-19 on their hospital treatment pathways.

Healthwatch Sandwell will champion the interests of people who use health and social care services and ensure that they have an opportunity to speak out about their concerns and health and social care priorities.