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The waiting game

Since March 2020 we have had a lot of feedback from the public telling us about delays, difficulties and changes in NHS and social care services, due to the Covid-19 pandemic affecting how these services were run. Healthwatch Kirklees and Healthwatch Calderdale worked collaboratively during 2021 to collect the experiences of people living in Calderdale and Kirklees during the Covid-19 pandemic who had experienced delays to health and social care for non-Covid related conditions since March 2020.

NHS Report Delivery Plan For Tackling The Covid-19 Backlog

“I still need my medication, even in a pandemic!” 

What people in Kirklees told us about ordering, receiving, changing, and reviewing their medication in challenging times 

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.

Healthwatch Kirklees regularly go out into the community to talk to people about their experience of health and social care services.

We’re always looking for different ways to engage people so we decided to take out some equipment to provide people with some basic health checks.

Healthwatch was asked by West Yorkshire and Harrogate health services to talk to patients, carers and the wider public, about what people thought about possible new ways of providing the care that they need when they have a stroke or care for someone who has.

The work was aimed at people who have experienced a stroke but did include methods to capture the views of the wider public also.

If there is one issue that defines Healthwatch in Kirklees, it is access to NHS Dentistry. It was the first thing that people said to us when we started in 2013, and people ring us every single week looking for NHS dentists in Kirklees.

Kirklees Council wanted to ensure that respite provision within Kirklees met the needs of service users and carers.

During 2017, Healthwatch Kirklees repeatedly heard stories from people who were struggling to return equipment they no longer needed; things like crutches, zimmer frames and wheelchairs.

People either didn’t know where to return it or, when they tried to return it, they were often told they’d gone to the wrong place or that the service didn’t want it back.

Access to dentistry in Kirklees has been a massive issue for Healthwatch in the last 5 years with 60% of people we asked in 2016 not having an NHS Dentist. One comment we heard in a bus station in Dewsbury said “I go to the dentist every 6 months. I never have any work done, just a checkup.” We wondered why people in pain could not find a dentist, whilst others has check-ups for healthy teeth.

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.