‘You Said – We Did’ – May 2024

Our activity in May 2024

You Said:

We were contacted by a concerned resident who had been made aware of a change to the criteria for using the Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services, who wanted to understand the changes.

We Did:

We spoke with the  Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service  to understand changes to service eligibility and liaised with the Sussex Integrated Care System to understand how changes might impact patients so this can be communicated

You Said:

We heard from an individual whose dentist had retired. They require prescription toothpaste and have been told they will now need to purchase this privately rather than via an NHS prescription.

We Did:

We signposted the individual to the Sussex Dental Helpdesk and shared a copy of the HWiS guide to Dentistry. In addition, we raised this issue with colleagues from NHS Sussex who agreed to raise it with  commissioners of dental services

You Said:

An individual contacted our I&S Service as they were living in poor conditions with little food. They explained this was impacting their physical and mental health and they didn’t know who to turn to for help.

We Did:

We provided details of support organisations and made a referral to Health and Social Care Connect. We suggested the individual also contact their GP regarding their health concerns and to discuss other support available, including using a food bank

You Said:

We heard from an individual referred for hospital treatment, but who was unable to receive it as there was no interpreter at their appointment due to an error in the referral letter which requested a translator for the wrong language

We Did:

We provided the individual with details of Sussex Interpreting Services who can offer support with translation and interpretation. We also collaborated with a volunteer at The Sanctuary Café to draft a letter to the GP explaining the situation and the persons needs

Our Contributions and Interventions

• At our monthly meeting with NHS Sussex Primary Care colleagues, we continued to share feedback from the public about difficulties using primary care services including, long telephone waits and a lack of face-to-face appointments. NHS Sussex explained these issues are being addressed through the ‘Modern General Practice Model’ which includes investment in digital tools, making better use of the workforce and improved management of demand and capacity, which should result in a better patient experience moving forwards.
  
• We visited the Sanctuary, a drop-in in Eastbourne for migrants, and heard about the current issues migrants are experiencing when accessing health and care services, particularly inconsistent access to interpreting and translation services. We passed this insight on to NHS Sussex, and highlighted how barriers to interpreting services leads to poor health outcomes for some patients.
• We delivered an ‘Introduction to Healthwatch’ session to county councillors. We summarised the evolution of Healthwatch and our statutory functions and core powers. We shared examples of our work and impact, including how we use feedback, and the support our information and signposting service offers.  Councillors told us what they were hearing about health and care locally.
• We contributed to a consultation about proposed changes to Neighbourhood Mental Health Team Footprints in East Sussex. We highlighted the importance of ensuring providers, the public and service users are involved and have a voice in the decision-making process, and that monitoring takes place to assess the performance of any changes. We also suggested the need for footprints to align as best possible with others such as Integrated Community Teams.

Tell us your experiences of local health and care services

We always want to hear the experiences of local people when they use health and care services.

You can share your experience by leaving a review on our Feedback Centre at any time and tell us how things were for you. What was good and what could be improved?

You can also share your experience or seek further support with health and care enquiries from our Information & Signposting service via:

Email: Enquiries@healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk

Telephone: 0333 101 4007 Monday – Friday (10am-2pm)