How Healthwatch has contributed to health and care in Sussex

Your stories and feedback provide valuable insight about local health and social care services.

Healthwatch routinely shares your anonymised stories and enquiries with our Integrated Care System, Sussex Health and Care, who include organisations such as NHS Sussex, Hospital Trusts and Adult Social Care departments, and use them to help develop or transform services. They are also used to deliver better information and communications to Sussex people and communities.

Healthwatch also use this insight to guide our strategic discussions with Sussex Health and Care and to help shape the work undertaken across Sussex. Where necessary, we escalate, on a monthly basis, any issues and concerns that need to be addressed quickly.

We have drawn together what we have heard between June and September 2023 and this is presented in our report below. It has been designed for health and care system leaders, but we are publishing it so that we are transparent with our Sussex residents and communities.

In the report you can read what we have learnt from listening to people across Sussex, and how the system is responding to this insight. This includes:

• Challenges with pharmacy closures/opening hours and medication shortages and how these are monitored and planned for.
• Access to GP-led care and how your insight is helping to inform the local winter communication campaign – with the aim of helping people to better understand the additional/new roles in general practice.
• Escalation of concerns around PALs and complaints handling at University Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
• How peoples’ insight over the blockages in getting mandatory ‘Fit to Fish’ medical certificates has resulted in clearer routes for commercial fishing personnel to meet this requirement.

You may also be interested to look at the range of reports that local Healthwatch have produced during this time – please click here or use the link below.

Tell Us Your Experiences

If you have an experience of health and care services in Sussex, then please share your experiences with your local Healthwatch via the contact details below. We want to hear your story.

Local Healthwatch can also support people with any health or care enquiry or feedback on any health or care services.

Healthwatch Brighton & Hove 
https://www.healthwatchbrightonandhove.co.uk/
Tel: 01273 234 040
Email: info@healthwatchbrightonandhove.co.uk 

Healthwatch East Sussex
https://www.healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk/
Tel: 0333 101 4007
Email: enquiries@healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk 

Healthwatch West Sussex
https://www.healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk/
Tel: 0300 012 0122
Email: helpdesk@healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk