News and reports

The Healthwatch East Sussex Information and Signposting (I&S) Service helps people to access the right health or social care service or organisation for their needs. Each month we feedback on the themes and issues people have contacted us about.

Healthwatch East Sussex (HWES) have utilised a team of independent volunteers to review the processes used by East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (ESHT) when they are in receipt of a complaint.

We regularly review the experiences you told us through public events, surveys, Feedback Centre and Information & Signposting enquiries.

Healthwatch uses your feedback with health and care decision-makers to seek a positive difference, and this document sets out the changes you have helped us to deliver during July 2023.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (ESHT) commissioned Young Healthwatch East Sussex (YHWES) to engage with young people (aged 11 to 19), living in foster care in East Sussex, to understand how ESHT could improve young people’s experiences of having a Review Health Assessment.

In May/June 2023, Healthwatch volunteers and staff reviewed a draft website for one of the three practices that make up Bexhill Primary Care Network [PCN].

Healthwatch East Sussex (HWES) has today published a report summarising the experiences we heard and the common issues and barriers affecting access to health and care services for asylum seekers in Eastbourne.

Each quarter we draw together public and patient experiences of health and care shared with us via enquiries to our Information & Signposting service, reviews on our Feedback Centre, public events and through our community and professional networks.

This document is a summary of the things we have heard about health and care, the issues we are monitoring and the actions we are taking.

We are delighted to share ‘Together we’re making health and social care better’, our Annual Report for 2022-23.

It highlights how we have listened to the voices of the public, patients and partners and used people’s feedback, experiences and preferences to help shape health and social care in East Sussex, and across Sussex.

In 2022-23, our Information and Signposting service responded to 467 enquiries and supported the public, patients and others to access, navigate and feedback on services.

Our Feedback Centre received 145 reviews from people sharing their experiences of health and care.

NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissioned Healthwatch East Sussex (HWES) to carry out a pilot project to obtain feedback from residents in care homes about their access to healthcare and support services, with a particular emphasis on the Enhanced Health in Care Home scheme. This summary report identifies the key findings, recommendations and next steps.

Healthwatch East Sussex (HWES) has published the findings from its research into Putting a Face to Unmet Need, a new report on the unmet health and care needs of East Sussex residents. The report calls for better communication between local health and care services to provide a more integrated and holistic experience for service users.

Each quarter we collate and analyse what we have heard from the public and patients about health and care services.

Our quarterly report provides an overview of the enquiries that we have received via our Information & Signposting service, as well as the reviews that have been left on our Feedback Centre.