News and reports

Youth Voice and Participation: Developing and Enhancing the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. Young Healthwatch have been working hard over the past seven months on investigating COVID-19 vaccinations and the success of the vaccination service for children and young people in East Sussex.

During December 2021, volunteers aged between 13 and 17 from our Young Healthwatch undertook a mystery shopping exercise in December 2021, looking at the East Sussex Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) website through the lens of young patients seeking help for mental health concerns.

Young Healthwatch have been talking to local young people across East Sussex about their views and experiences of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, developing key findings and linked recommendations for those co-ordinating and delivering these services locally.

During late 2021, Healthwatch East Sussex undertook a public survey of East Sussex residents experiences of dental services in East Sussex since March 2020, as well as a Mystery Shopping exercise to explore which practices in the county were accepting NHS patients at that time.

During October and November 2021, Healthwatch volunteers and staff reviewed all of the GP websites and out-of-hours phone messages across East Sussex for quality, clarity and presentation of information, with websites also assessed for ease of navigation.

Healthwatch in Sussex publish the final report ending our series nine of webinars capturing relatives and family carers experiences visiting their loved ones in care homes during the pandemic.

A new report from Healthwatch East Sussex reveals that four out of five of patients discharged from local hospitals last winter reported a positive experience, but there were some aspects of discharge that could be developed and improved.

Last year Healthwatch in Sussex undertook and published findings from our patient survey on Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services. We are now publishing an update on the impact our reports have had and the activity which has happened since they were released.

During a two-week period in August 2021, Healthwatch East Sussex undertook semi-structured interviews with 28 of the 42 residents living at Kendal Court at that time.

Healthwatch research shows mixed experiences of hospital discharge experiences during the pandemic

Between February and April 2021 Healthwatch ran a short web-based survey to understand how the hospital discharge process was functioning during the third national ‘COVID-19’ lockdown.

Healthwatch in Sussex help improve the process of being discharged from hospital, and the support you receive at home.
Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant patients are being discharged from hospital more rapidly.

Healthwatch in Sussex is today publishing a report that shares its insight on the pressures being faced by local health services across the county. Our report draws together findings from 20 publications and data sources and highlights increased demands on GP practices and Emergency Departments (A&E) in recent months.