Agenda item

Lisa Bosomworth, Healthwatch Development and Delivery Manager will be in attendance to provide an overview of the work undertaken by South Tees Healthwatch.

The findings of the South Tees Healthwatch 'Lockdown Survey' report, which highlights the experiences for local people of health and social care services, during lockdown will also be discussed.

Recommendation: Panel notes the information provided.

Report

The Development and Delivery Manager at South Tees Healthwatch was in attendance to provide the panel with an update in respect of the work undertaken by South Tees Healthwatch in 2019/20.

The panel was informed that a Healthwatch was established in every local authority area of England and it acted as the independent champion for people using local health and social care services. In summary ‘local Healthwatch's’ role was to:

- Listen to what people thought of services
- Use people's views to help shape better services
- Provide information about health and social care services locally.

Healthwatch Middlesbrough and Healthwatch Redcar & Cleveland had been working together across South Tees (HWST), since 1 April 2017.

The panel was advised that since the start of lockdown Healthwatch South Tees had wanted to gather local people's experiences, particularly when accessing and using health, social care and community support services. The aim of the 'Experiences of lockdown across South Tees' research was to shine a light on the positive actions that services had undertaken during lockdown, and to find out what could have been better, to help influence improvements based on public and patient experiences. Due to government guidance and lockdown restrictions, all surveys had to be shared online through Healthwatch's distribution lists and partnerships, social media channels, websites and monthly e-bulletins.

The surveys posted also explored the ‘new normal' in health and social care, asking questions about phone and video consultations, and whether going forward, people would be happy to have appointments in this digital way. It was advised that the findings of the report were supported by the qualitative study ‘The Dr Will Zoom You Now’, where Traverse, National Voices and Healthwatch England spoke to 49 people about their experience of remote consultations.

A copy of the report, as produced by South Tees Healthwatch was provided to the panel and it was explained that a great response had been provided by the community. In addition 300 letters / emails of thanks had been received highlighting the difference health, social care and community services had made to people's lives throughout lockdown. 

A summary of the key themes was provided as follows:-

-      People appreciated how efficient services had been in comparison to what they experienced before COVID-19.

-      Staff were described as friendly, helpful and supportive, which had  positive impact on experiences of services.

-      Safety measures in health and care settings, e.g. PPE and social distancing were critical for people to feel safe and at ease when attending face-to-face appointments, however the extent to which these were imposed varied between people's experiences of services.

-      Video calls were seen as an efficient, safe and reassuring way of accessing care in the current climate, however they weren't always thorough enough or appropriate for the patients' digital literacy, accessibility and actual care needs.

-      Some people's access to care had been affected by services' immediate reaction to COVID-19, e.g. postponement of operations.

-      Experiences of maternity services had been negatively affected by social distancing guidelines meaning mothers were often alone, however messages of thanks to individuals and staff teams in this department had been received.

-      Mental health had been affected by experiences of loneliness and concern for family members, meaning this will be a future area of concern.

It was acknowledged that in respect of the data gathered the demographic profile of the respondees did not capture everyone's voice. Heathwatch South Tees were therefore making a concerted effort to capture those seldom heard voices and one way in which this was to be achieved was through the recruitment of community champions. To date 14 community champions had been recruitment and the offer was made to the panel that if any elected Members wished to become community champions or find out more details they simply needed to contact Healthwatch South Tees.

In addition to the work undertaken above in 2019/20 Healthwatch South Tees was currently leading on a consultation about the new South Tees Autism Pathway. It was explained to the panel that from April 2021 there would be a new South Tees pathway for children and young people with autism and other neurological conditions. The new pathway would be called the Neurodevelopmental Pathway and aimed to provide needs led support for both the child and family before, during and after diagnosis.

AGREED that the information provided be noted and any expressions of interest in becoming a Healthwatch Community Champion be forwarded directly to Healthwatch South Tees.