Share your experience of health and social care services during the COVID-19 pandemic so we can help services better help you
As the independent champion for health and social care in the county, our main job is to help people have a say about their health and care. We work with the health and care services and planners in the county to make sure they hear the experiences of local people and use the feedback to help improve services and people’s care experiences.
As the independent champion for health and social care in the county, our main job is to help people have a say about their health and care. We work with the health and care services and planners in the county to make sure they hear the experiences of local people and use the feedback to help improve services and people’s care experiences.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of temporary changes have been made to health and care services across Northamptonshire in order to delay the spread of the virus.
"Health and care services are experiencing immense challenges at this time, and we all value the hard work and commitment of the people who look after us. In this difficult time, it is all the more important that people’s experiences are still heard. With so much about how health and care is delivered changing, and having to adapt quickly, it is especially important that things that are not working well, and those that are, are highlighted to help services deliver the quality of care they want to."
David N Jones, Healthwatch Northamptonshire Chair
To help people share their experiences with us we have developed a short survey that asks people to tell us how they have found accessing health and care at this time, including what they think of the new ways of contacting GP practices, whether they have had any treatments delayed or cancelled and whether they have seen changes in home visiting services from social care workers or community nurses. The survey also asks how much of an impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on people’s mental wellbeing and whether they have been able to get help with this.
We will also be making the survey available offline and are keen to work with community groups and organisations who can help those they work with share their views, especially if they are not online. Please contact us on enquiries@healthwatchnorthamptonshire.co.uk or 07951 419331 so we can work together to do this.
We want to make it as easy as possible for people to take part in our survey and would like to encourage those who do not use the internet to contact us for a paper copy or to go through it with us on the telephone.
“We are here to listen so please do take part in the survey and share your experiences of local health and social care services. Patient feedback is essential to help us to understand which services have improved during this time and identify those that are more difficult to use. We know that the use of technology has changed the way we use services and would like to know how you feel about it. Your feedback enables our local health services to make sure we keep the changes that you value and use your experience to make improvements to services as needed. Together we can make future services the best they can possibly be.”
Please let us know about your experience of care at this time. It is essential that we hear from as many local people as possible to inform and shape our services for the future. Please do take some time to complete the survey and ask your friends and family to do the same. We will share this with the service providers to help them to continue to deliver good quality care at this time.
