News and reports

‘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.

Residents of Sandwell regularly express frustrations with obtaining G.P. Surgery appointments and there are not enough G.P. appointments available to meet daily demand.

We received 59 survey responses, 27 participants took part in focus groups, and we conducted semi-structured interviews. Participants in the focus group were able to complete the survey as well if they chose to. Survey respondents were asked a series of demographic questions but were free to choose not to answer those questions.

Healthwatch Sandwell is your independent consumer champion for
health and social care services in Sandwell.

NHS GPs in England can be paid to undertake annual health checks for people registered with them who have learning disabilities and meet the eligibility criteria. They must be aged 14 and over and on the practice learning disability health checks register. People with autism without a learning disability are not included.

We expect effective, high-quality support to manage existing conditions and help us live healthy lives and people with learning disabilities and or autism should expect no less and receive the same service as everyone else. People with a learning disability generally have poorer outcomes in life, experience inequalities in access to healthcare and have significantly lower life expectancy (Care Quality Commission, CQC, 2016).