Following on from a successful project completed looking at Digital health, Healthwatch Oldham collaborated with Northern Care Alliance (NCA) on the challenges faced with remote appointments after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early 2021 Healthwatch Oldham was commissioned by the Northern Care Alliance to look at partnershsip working to gather people’s feedback on remote appointments with the intention to produce a report, with recommendations aiming to shape a patient guide around accessing and attending remote appointments (Remote being either by telephone or video call) and to provide valuable insight to NCA on how services can improve the patient experience as we move forward.
Healthwatch Oldham, the Northern Care Alliance and Advancing Quality Alliance (AQUA) co-produced a survey to help identify how people have found the experience of a remote appointment, including what has gone well and any areas of improvement that may need to be considered. The survey also wanted to explore the reasons why some patients may not have engaged with virtual appointments at all. The report also recognises where the needs of patients were met during remote appointments, and what type of remote appointments met people’s health needs.
The survey was shared in the public domain and four focus groups were facilitated to look at specific feedback from seldom-heard communities, including;
- People from BAME Communities
- People with a Learning Disability
- Open focus group
- People living with cancer
A total of 211 surveys were completed.
Download the Report here: