Healthwatch Cornwall publishes coronavirus survey report
Healthwatch Cornwall conducted an online survey in June and July to understand the impact of coronavirus and the lockdown on residents of Cornwall and The Isles of Scilly, nearly 1,800 people shared their experience of the pandemic from a health and social care perspective.
The report details the results of this comprehensive survey, giving an incredibly deep understanding of the complex range of challenges the situation posed to both residents of Cornwall and providers of health and social care services.
Findings are grouped into three key areas which emerged as recurring themes from the results, these are:
- Mental health & wellbeing: the impact of the pandemic, lockdown and isolation on mental health and wellbeing
- Carers: themes relating to the experience of those in a caring role or accessing care during the pandemic
- Communications: perception of sources and providers of information and communication during the pandemic
As well as noting positive feedback on what has worked well, the three themes detail learnings, observations and recommendations on changes that can be made. We look forward to working with commissioners and service providers to help deliver on our recommendations to improve services for local residents now and in the future.
We had a large and broad response to our survey during lockdown and it is proving to be a really rich source of information on how people are feeling right now about their health and social care services. The report we are publishing today summarises a lot of the key themes but behind that sits a wealth of detailed information which we will be sharing with commissioners and providers to improve services. Our work over the coming months will focus on delving deeper into some of the concerns people have expressed particularly in relation to mental health provision, supporting people in their caring roles and the clarity of information available for people regarding their access to services.
Most people see their GP as a first port of call for any medical concerns and we know that some people have found it difficult not being able to see their doctor face to face. It is reassuring to read in this report that many people have found telephone and video consultations to be of benefit. I have read Healthwatch Cornwall’s recommendations and know we need to consider how we tell people about changes to health services and the availability of appointments etc. as the messages are not always getting through. We will work with providers to improve this and I look forward to also working with Healthwatch Cornwall in this regard.
