Issue - meetings

The Board received a report on behalf of Healthwatch Oldham which advised Members of the findings of the research undertaken which looked at people’s experiences of health and social care services in Oldham during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Board was advised that Greater Manchester had been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 compared to the rest of the UK with Oldham being in the top 20 local Authorities by all-time case rates. Oldham had sustained enduring levels of COVID-19 since the pandemic began with over 690 deaths reported to date. The demographic make-up of the Oldham’s population, comparatively high levels of poverty and deprivation have meant that some Oldham residents have been at increased risk throughout the pandemic.

The Board was informed that a questionnaire had been released in July 2020 and was due to close in August 2020. Due to the views of people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities not being accurately represented and to increase the participation rates, the survey had been extended to 31^st October 2020 and work was done with the local BAME community groups/projects to gather more ethnically diverse responses.

The survey had highlighted key themes on communication, access to services, cancelled appointments and experience within services. Respondents felt there was a lack of clear and regular communication, the main concern was the conflicting and confusing messages on COVID-19 guidance both locally and nationally which received 42 comments. Respondents felt that the easiest services to access were pharmacies with 358 comments. In contrast, the most difficult service to access was in-person GP appointments of which 213 comments were received. Over half of the respondents (353) stated that they had had appointments cancelled with the highest being dental appointments at 165 comments. Of the 239 respondent’s wo attended in-person appointments, 143 respondents felt that adequate guidance was given on minimising risks. The responses suggested that there were mixed reviews on the benefits of in-person and online consultations with responses that indicated some people found the limited face-to-face support very difficult whilst others gave positive responses to the remote support and felt it could complement face to face consultations.

RESOLVED that that report be noted.