Healthwatch Ealing July to September Engagement Report 2019

Healthwatch Ealing decided to conduct one of the focus groups on health and social care services in Ealing. This quarter Healthwatch Ealing focused on Southall, as it is an area within Ealing we found we had not spent enough time gathering experiences. This was achieved by attempting to build relationships with community groups in the area and focusing on Ealing hospital and GPs in Southall.

We have been to 14 engagement meetings and events in this quarter, 5 visits were made to Ealing hospital and local Southall GPs to supplement our Patient Experience Programme and increase engagement in the Southall area. The meetings this quarter were introductory/catch-up and event planning meetings with other organisations, i.e. The Solace Centre, Young Ealing Foundation, Mael Gael, Havelock Family Centre etc. We also attended community groups at Southall Day Centre and Mael Gael.

It should be noted that due to the nature of this engagement work, most people tend to express concerns more than they mention examples of good practice. Therefore, for a balanced view of patient views, this report should be read alongside Healthwatch Ealing’s Patient Experience reports. This engagement report is also a way to channel concerns into helping to find solutions, finding out what service users would like and where they think improvements need to be made.

Service users were appreciative of CCG and Trust representatives coming to meet with them. They felt that it was useful to have one-to-one conversations and to gain more information about how the system works. They also felt that it was good for reps to see service users when they were well, as they usually interacted when they are unwell. They thought this would give representatives an insight into who they are trying to help and to have conversations about what that help should look like.

Moving forward, service users wanted to see members of different services coming to talk to them – before the opening hours of Solace, and maybe in smaller groups of around 4-7 service users. The Solace Centre expressed that they would be willing to help facilitate this. It was generally agreed that this could easily be one afternoon per quarter so as not to be a large time commitment for reps.