As part of Healthwatch Calderdale and Healthwatch Kirklees Covid-19 feedback we heard from over 200 people about their experiences of medication.

The health and care experiences of people living in Calderdale during the Covid-19 outbreak/

Covid-19 Long term health conditions

Many had positive feedback about their experience, but we heard that some things may have been difficult, they were:

-Changes to medication;
-Review of medicines prescribed;
-Having to rely on the support of family, friends or volunteers to get medication.

All of that feedback has already been presented to all relevant local NHS organisations in an effort to bring improvements.
But we feel there is more we can learn and are now asking for specific feedback about the main issues raised. We want to know if access to medication is impacting the health and wellbeing of the public in Kirklees and Calderdale.

FIND THE SURVEY HERE

Royal Voluntary Service

We are working in partnership with the royal voluntary service through the Kirklees libraries to share the survey and additional information to those who may not be able to access information online. During the pandemic we have had to get more creative on how we engage with those outside of our social media platforms. No longer able to engage face to face we looked for other options, partnering with services that are still able to reach their communities.

For more information on how this is working contact rio.kisjantoro@healthwatchkirklees.co.uk

Related Reports

Extended access to GP services

5 years ago, one of the main issues people spoke to us about was difficulty getting an appointment with their GP and we still regularly hear that people are experiencing problems when trying to access primary care services. When we heard about the new ‘extended access’ schemes across Kirklees, we were interested to know what people thought about the opportunity to see a GP (and other primary care practitioners) in the evenings and weekends.

General Practitioner (GP)

How your opinions and experiences shaped services at The Kirkwood

The Kirkwood got in touch with Healthwatch Kirklees to ask if we could support them to gather feedback about their services. They have recently rebranded and have many new plans for the service. The Kirkwood felt that working in partnership would help them to reach more people and, as Healthwatch Kirklees is an independent organisation, people would feel comfortable giving us their views.

Social care Engagement

Health and care experiences of Kirklees residents during the Covid-19 outbreak

To gather a full understanding of the experience of health and care services during the Covid-19 outbreak, over a period over of 12 weeks (end of May to end of August 2020) Healthwatch Kirklees used a variety of different engagement approaches and tools including a survey and virtual focus groups to talk to people living and working in Kirklees.

Covid-19 Engagement

Delays to Medication

-Changes to medication; -Review of medicines prescribed; -Having to rely on the support of family, friends or volunteers to get medication.