The latest news and updates from the Healthwatch team

GP Review - The main GP Review Report and 31 individual practice reports were published in early March, and more information can be found here. We are currently in dialogue with the local Clinical Commissioning Group to try to increase the number of GPs in the city and improve access to primary care through improved booking systems and increased opening hours. Many practices welcomed the insights provided in their own individual reports and have made changes in response to recommendations. The local press widely reported publication of the review with stories in the Argus, Brighton and Hove Independent and BBC South. Many thanks to all the volunteers who worked on the project. We are confident your efforts have helped to improve primary care in the city.

Emergency Services Review at the Royal Sussex - Healthwatch have been interviewing patients at both the Adult A&E service and Children’s A&E service (based in the Alex). The purpose of these interviews is to review the patient experience of each service and also to establish patient knowledge of alternative services that can be used instead of A&E (or at least as a first port of call). Watch our website for further updates after Easter.

Patient Transport Services – In December 2017, Healthwatch Sussex-wide repeated our Patient Transport Service (PTS) consumer survey to see what changes or improvements have occurred over the past few months, read all about it in our latest update here. A final report should be available soon – look out for this! In January, we represented a report to the Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee which you can read here.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments – In February, we published a report looking into the experiences of those going through Personal Independence Payments and Employment Support Allowance assessments. You can read the report here.