Community
Update
August 2015
Healthwatch Sandwell Annual Report
Our Annual Report for 2014-2015 has been published. The report
outlines our activity throughout the year and provides information
about how we have worked with local people throughout Sandwell.
The report can be downloaded via our website HERE. Alternatively a
hard copy is available by contacting us.
Continuing Healthcare Maze
Healthwatch Sandwell (HWS) carried out research into the Continuing Healthcare*
(CHC) assessment process as a result of being contacted by a number of people, who
had experienced a CHC assessment and wanted to discuss their experiences, concerns
and issues. It involved 7 cases involving adults and were either elderly or carers of
people with a learning disability or an older person.
*NHS Choices (2015) defines NHS continuing care as ‘free care outside of hospital that
is arranged and funded by the NHS’.
The final report with its findings and recommendations is available from the HWS
Office or at http://www.healthwatchsandwell.co.uk/research-and-intelligence-reports
Findings:
Poor Communication by Assessors with Service Users and Carers.
This included a lack of explanation of the assessment process, both actual and future.
Service users not being listened to and not being understood when information was
being provided to the assessor. Service users did not feel a part of the process; they
felt they were not being believed, were left confused and anxious, and this caused
unnecessary emotional distress.
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Poor Assessment Skills of the Assessor
It was found that the assessors approach was unsatisfactory in obtaining an accurate
picture of the situation.
Emotional Cost
Service users and carers have experienced emotional distress from the process, which
has had a negative impact on their health and well-being.
Poor Communication and Collaboration: Health Care Professionals and Social
Workers
The research found that service users and their carers experienced unacceptable
disagreements and arguments between professionals during home visits.
Timescales
Service users and their carers had to endure unacceptable timescales and uncertainty
over outcomes for the assessment process.
Conclusion
HWS believe that these findings are unacceptable for people who are vulnerable and
living with life debilitating conditions that already seriously affect the quality of their
life.
HWS have made the following recommendations:
•
Thorough review of process and resources in the assessment process
•
Recognition of the personal and human cost in the assessment
•
Support for service users and carers: advice and advocacy
•
Support for service users and carers: enforcement of rights
HWS are liaising with Sandwell & West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group,
who alongside Sandwell MBC facilitate CHC, to discuss the findings.
Enter & View Activity
In April this year we carried out Enter and View visits to 4 care homes in Sandwell
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 Inshore Support, 5 Trinity Street, Cradley Heath
 Grafton Lodge, Grafton Road, Oldbury
 Lyndon Hall, Malvern Close, West Bromwich
 Brunswick House, James Watt Drive, Wednesbury
The visits formed part of a program to examine the delivery and quality of care
provided at residential and nursing homes in Sandwell.
Overall we saw examples of good care and some examples of good practice. We share
our reports with the Care Quality Commission and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough
Council and these are available to download from our website HERE
Volunteer Award for Our Chair, Pam Jones
We are all very proud that our chair, Pam Jones was awarded the trustee award at the
Sandwell Volunteer Awards in June as a recognition of her hard work and commitment
in leading Healthwatch Sandwell forward.
Comparedrs
In March, we launched comparedrs.com, a new web service,
exclusive to Sandwell. It will give patients in Sandwell more
information about the range of services available at local GP surgeries to help them
decide the best place to register that will support their needs, how to register with a
GP practice and their rights as a user of GP services.
CompareDrs.com is different from other health information websites; the information
you see is collected locally and is the latest available, we don’t harvest information
from elsewhere – all of the information is given by the GP surgeries or collected by our
Experience Gatherers. You can visit comparedrs.com HERE, or if you would like further
information contact us
Update on Sandwell Assist
At our Health & Social Care group meeting on 5th June, staff from Sandwell Assist (the
Sandwell Council Adult Social Care contact centre), came along to give us an update on
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the services they provide. Assist has relocated to the Independent Living Centre
alongside the independent living team. Their opening times have changed to reflect
demands on their service although emergency calls are dealt with when offices are
closed. The phone number is to change in the near future (a key issue highlighted by
Healthwatch Sandwell). The assessment process has been improved to provide a
better experience for the customer. Assist confirmed that they are meeting their
targets for answering calls within 30 seconds (currently answering 80% of calls within
this time. Further updates will be posted on our website, or included in our next
newsletter.
Consultation Network
Our Consultation Network is a partnership of local groups and organisations that we
commit to visit or contact on a regular basis to collaborate with, sharing information,
intelligence, issues and concerns. We can identify those areas where Healthwatch
Sandwell and local groups and organisations can work closely together to identify
areas of concern. We currently have 42 groups signed up to our network and it has
proved to be a very useful way of listening to local people. We have successfully used
our network to help provide information and access to advocacy and support for
several people in the last few months.
Any Sandwell group or organisation can be a partner in our Consultation Network.
Please contact us and we will tell you more.
Date for your diary
Healthwatch Sandwell Annual Public Meeting
Will be held on
Wednesday
30th
September 2015 from 2pm till 4pm
at
Kaleidoscope Plus
Hawthorns House, Halfords Lane, West Bromwich, B66 1BB
To register your interest
Tel: 0121 569 7210 Email: info@healthwatchsandwell.co.uk
If you receive by post, and you have email and would like to receive our updates and other information, please
confirm your email details by emailing to info@healthwatchsandwell.co.uk