Healthwatch Report Covid-19 one year on May June 2021

The key features for May/June:

The following identifies some of the key areas which were drawn from the 414 public responses provided between 1st May – June 30th 2021. It is important to note that throughout the report these headline statements are supported by contextual information and perhaps more importantly the words of the people behind the headlines.

• Down on previous months 42% of people responding felt fine and were looking forward to returning to some level of normality.
• We saw a marginal increase from 19% to 22% of people who felt anxious about leaving the house but also saw an increase in those who felt worried that restrictions were being eased too quickly this rise was from 28% to 33%
• We have not seen any significant variance to alter our commentary from March about the need for continued promotion and development of tools for resilience and self-care, and to stay ever mindful of those with new and existing mental health conditions who are experiencing challenges in accessing care and support.
• Replicated from previous months, there was still a consensus that people wanted more access to face to face appointments and still a fear from our communities that health care and particularly GP services were still closed when in reality services have never been closed even though the physicality of the front door might have been. This may demonstrate the very literal and physical way people see and use primary care services irrespective of digital developments.
• Slightly down on previous months, 67% of respondents said the pandemic had negatively impacted their general wellbeing a little or a lot – The ongoing and much publicised delays in getting appointments, referrals, assessments, diagnosis, and ongoing treatment are all cited as reasons for the negative impact.
• Over recent months we have seen a shift in the reasons people felt they were receiving an inequitable service. The main reasons cited for inequality were age, disability and have existing long-term conditions. Geography has moved down the scale.