Update from our CEO, Feb 2023

A message from incoming CEO, Alan Boyd

“It’s hard to believe that after six years, David Liley is leaving Healthwatch Brighton and Hove. I think I speak on behalf of all those who have met and worked with David, when I say a massive ‘Thank You’ for everything you have given and contributed to Healthwatch.

I know the team will miss David and there will be a ‘David-shaped’ hole that simply can’t be filled. David’s CV is a testament to how much he has given to supporting health and care services over 50 years and we all hope that David will take some time to reflect on all that he has achieved in that time.

On a personal note, I would like to thank David for all of his support and guidance; in particular your help over these past few months. I shall endeavour to carry on your amazing work.

Enjoy your “retirement” David – which knowing you, won’t be that relaxing at all!

With love and fondest wishes from your Healthwatch family”

Our projects

1. GP services. We issued a press statement following the publication of our latest GP access report . In response to our findings NHS Sussex leads for primary care (which covers GP services) said:

“Our key message to the public is that no-one should delay coming forward and accessing NHS care if they are concerned about their health …. we have been working with our GP practices to make improvements and this week ‘further increasing access to GP services’ was announced as one of four top priorities for the NHS in Sussex this year. We invested more than £3million over the winter to support practices, and will continue to drive forward plans which include increasing the range of health professionals at GP practices, supporting practices to offer evening and weekend appointments, and working with GP practices to improve their phone systems. …We welcome the insight from this Healthwatch report and will make sure it informs the work we have planned for this year, and how further improvements can be delivered.”

2. Outpatients: We are running a new project that will involve a series of workshops with patients to discuss proposed changes to outpatients. This work is being led by Michelle Kay. We have started to recruit patients to join this project. We are seeking people who have in the last two years attended, or people who are currently waiting for, an Outpatient appointment. This may be for someone you care for, or for yourself. We are offering a £100 high street voucher as a thank you. If you are interested contact Michelle@HWBH.co.uk 01273 23 40 40. More information can be found here
3. Dentistry. The results from our two dental surveys are in and they are not good. Reforms affecting dentistry were announced in December 2022 and people should have started to notice changes.  Interim results from over 80 people who responded across Brighton and Hove revealed:

• Over two-thirds were ‘Not Confident ‘about their ability to access NHS dental services over the next 12 months, for themselves or others.
• Nearly two-thirds of the people were ‘Dissatisfied/Very Dissatisfied’ about their ability to find a dentist offering NHS treatments.
• Nearly three in five were ‘Dissatisfied/Very Dissatisfied with the waiting times to see someone [NHS dental services].
• Three in five were ‘Dissatisfied/Very Dissatisfied’ with information on services being accurate and up to date.
• Over a half of respondents were unable to receive NHS dental treatment as they had been unable to find a dentist able to offer it.
• One in ten people needed dental treatment but were unable to afford to pay the NHS dental charges. 
• Over a quarter of people had paid for treatment privately because they had been unable to find or access a dentist able to provide NHS treatment.
• In addition, we discovered that most dental practices had not yet updated their information on the NHS Find a Dentist webpage despite a requirement to do so.

Thank you to our volunteer Chris, who is helping to analyse the data.

In other work:

• Mazzie and Sylvia, two of our volunteers, attended an event to meet other local organisations. These events are a great way to raise our profile and help people understand what we do and how we can help. It also allows us to hear what health and social care issues are concerning them. We plan to do more of these and will be asking our amazing band of volunteers to help.
• We met with colleagues from University Hospitals Sussex and Healthwatch West Sussex to relaunch our monthly Enter and View visits. These volunteer-led visits look at the hospital environment and provide patient focussed feedback to our Trust on how caring, safe, clean and well-led wards within our hospitals are. We’ll also be sampling patient meals and chatting to patients about their experience of being in hospital. We had a dedicated team of volunteers who regularly delivered these visits before COVID hit and we’ll be reaching out to them once more to deliver this important work. Our Trust highly rates the feedback we give them and uses it to make improvements. Clary Collicutt will be running this project.
• Healthwatch was invited by our Trust to tour the new hospital which will open in Spring. We were shown around by the team who have led the work and George Findlay, Chief Executive of the Trust was there, alongside local Councillors. The hospital, named after Dr Louisa Martindale, a pioneer in medicine and medical education for women, is hugely impressive and will provide a modern environment which will benefit patients and staff alike. The hospital will provide outpatient appointments, surgery, critical care and more. You can learn more about the development and plans to transfer patients from the existing Barry Building here.

Health and Social Care in the news

News from Healthwatch England

Healthwatch England have published an open letter to NHS England to express our disappointment at the lack of progress in reviewing the legally-binding Accessible Information Standard (AIS). It’s been nearly a year since they launched the Your Care, Your Way campaign to highlight that everyone should receive healthcare in a format they need, be it British Sign Language, easy read or electronic. However, it’s now a year later, and we still don’t know when the review will be published or how the NHS will implement changes to improve the AIS. That’s why we’ve written publicly to NHS England, calling on them to publish the review of the Accessible Information Standard and clarify how they will take forward its recommendations.   

Healthwatch Brighton and Hove has been advocating for improved patient communications and we have had some success, read about  this here

Our local hospital news

• Have your say on stroke care in West Sussex. A series of online and in-person events are taking place in the coming weeks on a proposal to improve in-hospital stroke services in West Sussex. You can find out more, ask questions and have your say by attending one of the public consultation events. The next event takes place in Worthing on Monday 6 March, from 6-7.30pm, in the Auditorium, upstairs in the Guildbourne Centre. Find out more and have your say at Sussex Health and Care.
• Read about faster and more efficient CT scans for patients in emergency care
• Read how the Liver scanning clinic cut waiting list by almost 90%.
• Read about improving care for patients with suspected colorectal cancer here