News and reports

Like many organisations, general practice needed to adapt quickly as our country went into lockdown and respond to new ways of working such as offering video and telephone consultations. Some people have told us that these new ways of accessing GP services have
worked well for them, allowing them to save time and get the help they need, quickly. But for others it’s been more difficult, time consuming and frustrating trying to access support when they need it.

How people feel about waiting to access hospital care: Findings from a patient survey.

It has been generally accepted that during the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a gradual increase in the prevalence of mental health conditions, primarily anxiety & depression. The Local Government Association described this as a ‘silent pandemic'.

Throughout this very difficult year we have continued listening to the
experiences of islanders on the full range of health and social care services.

In the period 1st April 2020 – 31st March 2021, Healthwatch Isle of Wight received 1415 pieces of feedback regarding Health and Social care, directly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NHS dental services have been in the spotlight for a number of years throughout England and have recently received a lot of negative feedback. The main area of concern for people is a lack of access.

In 2019, a number of people who had been affected by suicide,
contacted Healthwatch Isle of Wight. We spoke to people who had
attempted to take their own life and their families and also to the families of people who had taken their own life.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this has been a difficult year for everyone including Healthwatch and our staff and volunteers.

2019-2020 was a challenging year in many ways. It was a year of consolidation and developing new priorities based upon what you were telling us, details of which are contained in this report.

Medical appointments as we knew them have dramatically changed as a result of Covid-19.

Healthwatch England commissioned the four Local Healthwatch organisations (Healthwatch Hampshire, Healthwatch Southampton, Healthwatch Portsmouth and Healthwatch Isle of Wight) to carry out a survey to understand people’s views of the Long Term Plan.

Real-time intelligence for services about the issues the public are facing is valuable.