Intelligence report June to September 2016

Findings

The majority of comments received by Healthwatch Lewisham during the last three months concerned people’s views of GP surgeries.

For example, just under half (48%) of all patient stories related to residents’ experiences of the Primary Care service.

20% of all comments were about the NHS generally and 16% covered Hospital services.

A significant factor for the high proportion of GP comments received would be a result of Healthwatch carrying out regular engagement at six surgeries and one children’s community health service.

These visits as part of the hub engagement strategy allow the organisation to speak directly with service users. Similarly, the reason for the large number of comments focusing specifically on the overall NHS service is due to the organisation’s approach to public events’ engagement.

Currently Healthwatch Lewisham uses a strategy of asking the public to share one positive and one negative comment about the NHS in order to create a conversation.