Bucks care groups talk about impact of lockdown
Some had to stop services or dramatically change how they worked.
40 community care groups have been talking about how the pandemic's affected their work in Buckinghamshire.
From seeing increased levels of anxiety, to not being able to deliver services at all, Healthwatch Bucks have heard from groups who usually give care across the county.
The group told us they wanted to find out the following from organisations:
- What their service users and staff were worried about most in accessing health and social care services during the lockdown period
- Did lockdown restrictions effect their service?
- If Healthwatch Bucks could share any information about their local services.
The report here summarises the findings.
What issues were raised?
Some concerns centred around those who were told to shield and some who felt unprotected:
“An Aylesbury lady in her mid 80's who has a long history of chest issues including pneumonia and had a heart operation last summer having had a mild heart attack is not considered high risk enough to be put on the high risk register”
There was also confusion about end-of-life care, the report says:
“One of the other things we have been dealing with in our local area is end of life planning, and in particular whether care home residents should be admitted to hospital for treatment or treated with palliative care at the home. We have seen varying approaches to this question by different GP surgeries.”
The report also includes case-studies across the county, including The Healthy Living Centre in Walton Court, Aylesbury.
Marcela at The Healthy Living Centre told Healthwatch Bucks:
“Since the commencement of the UK lockdown the centre has been closed, however our clients are from vulnerable groups who require support during this time. During the Coronavirus crisis we are continuing to keep in contact with as many of our contacts as possible to help with the isolation we are all facing during the Covid19 outbreak, reducing mental health problems.
"During April we contacted 393 of our users from hard to reach communities including women attending our ‘Women’s Health and Wellbeing Course’ and ‘English for Health and Wellbeing’ courses. Contacts have also been maintained with seniors who are registered with us.
"As a result of telephone calls, emails, and social media conversations we have made more than 77 referrals and signposts to other organisations. We are in daily contact with more than 68 very vulnerable families. Any people that express complex needs are escalated to a senior member of staff. Examples of extra support needs include mental health support.
"During May we increased our contacts to 599 people in total, from these 209 were support calls to women in Urdu. Since lockdown we have made a total of 997 contacts.”
What do those in charge need to do now?
Healthwatch Bucks often gives recommendations to bodies like Bucks Healthcare and the Council following their research.
This time is now different.
They recommend:
Buckinghamshire Council, Buckinghamshire CCG, Buckinghamshire NHS Healthcare Trust and Buckinghamshire ICS need to...
- Work closely with community and voluntary services in Bucks and listen to the voices of their staff and service users to make sure vulnerable people and families are getting access to the support that they need
- Give clear information to health and social care professionals around end of life planning
- Produce clear information on the development of initiatives to improve access for service users who are less likely to be ‘online’
Buckinghamshire Council should...
- Give clear information to service users on when Memory Screening Assessments will begin again and how the backlog of people awaiting assessments will be addressed
- Give clear information to disabled people on support available to them, particularly for their mental health
Buckinghamshire CCG should...
- Continue to provide women experiencing domestic violence access to telephone appointments with their GP
Healthwatch Bucks said:
"Going forward Healthwatch Bucks will continue to promote community and voluntary services and escalate feedback from them to providers and commissioners.
"We will continue our involvement with the Bucks Voluntary Sector Mental Health Response Group. We will continue to share our surveys with these services to make sure we capture as much feedback from a wide range of people."
You can also post your feedback about local health and social care services on their website.