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Healthwatch Dorset Annual Report 2023-24: The value of listening

by | Jul 10, 2024 | Healthwatch Dorset, Local Healthwatch

Healthwatch Dorset’s Annual Report 2023-24 highlights how they listened to over 2,000 people last year, supporting them to have their say to improve health and social care and to get information and advice about local services.

Here are some of the ways they used your feedback to help NHS and social care decision makers prioritise the issues that matter most to local people to help make care better.

Improving patient access to urgent and emergency care: Their recommendations, based on feedback from the public and front-line staff, guided improvements in NHS Dorset’s online information and 111 signposting service. This has also informed ongoing work to redesign urgent care in Dorset, including enabling GPs to book patients directly into urgent care services, and a public communications plan is being developed to address the lack of awareness and understanding around urgent care services. Read the report

Improving mental health support for young people: They asked young people facing additional challenges and inequality about their experience of mental health services and the changes they want to see. They identified key areas for improvement including shorter waiting times, better continuity of care and follow up, less clinical and more comfortable settings, and an approach that treats young people as individuals. The new Dorset NHS review and development plan addresses several issues highlighted in their report and outlines how the local system will tackle the issues young people face. Read the report

Better NHS dental care in Dorset: Dentistry was the top issue people contacted them about last year, mostly because they were struggling to find a dentist taking on new NHS patients or for urgent care. By working with NHS Dorset they influenced dental care commissioning, including a child-friendly dental pilot practice, an additional 100 urgent care appointments a week for people who do not have a regular dentist, and additional capacity for looked after children and in areas of deprivation. They also influenced local initiatives looking at oral health education and addressing the backlog of community and special care dentistry.

Raising awareness to improve support for vulnerable people and communities: They established new partnerships and worked together with local health, care and community groups to raise awareness of the challenges impacting people’s health and wellbeing and the support that makes a positive difference. Read the blogs

In 2024-25, Healthwatch Dorset will continue to engage with communities across the county, and make sure those in power hear the views and experiences of our diverse communities. Through their three priority projects they will investigate people’s experiences of:

  • Pharmacies
  • Virtual Wards (hospital care at home)
  • Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (working with communities to deliver more joined up preventative care at a neighbourhood level).

Announcing the annual report, Viv Aird, Chair of the Healthwatch Dorset Board, said: “This has been another busy year for Healthwatch Dorset, during which we have ensured that your voice is heard at the highest level and that your concerns are acted upon. I am committed to a healthcare system that is holistic and preventative in its approach, tackling the root causes of ill health which are often socio-economic in origin. I believe passionately that services can be improved if they reflect and respond to the views and needs of the people who use them, and we are committed to achieving this in Dorset.”

Read the full Healthwatch Dorset Annual Report 2023-24 to find out more.

Keep up to date with Healthwatch Dorset’s work by signing up for regular news updates.

You can also share your views and experiences of Dorset’s health and care services.

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