Your satisfaction with local NHS Services
615 people from across Sussex shared their views with us. We heard:
- 38% of people are very satisfied or satisfied with the way the NHS is run in Sussex.
- People are most satisfied with pharmacy services (64% were either very satisfied or satisfied) and GP surgeries (58% were either very satisfied or satisfied).
- People are least satisfied with GP surgeries (22% were very dissatisfied or dissatisfied and qualitative comments focused on the difficulties of getting an appointment with a GP) and outpatient appointments at hospitals (11% were very dissatisfied or dissatisfied).
- People are most confident that ‘Health and social care staff are working hard to care and support patients’ (71% felt very confident or somewhat confident).
- People are least confident that ‘if they need medical help, the NHS has the capacity to help me’ and ‘if I was unwell, I would be able to get a timely appointment with my GP practice (48% felt either not very confident or not at all confident).
- There were many open comments left that expressed people’s dissatisfaction with their ability to get a GP appointment (90 comments), long waiting times for hospital appointments (89 comments) and poor communication from the NHS (51 comments).
Overall satisfaction in Sussex: When asked overall, how satisfied are you with the way the NHS is run in Sussex, 38% were either very satisfied or satisfied. 30% were with very dissatisfied or dissatisfied and 31% stated they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Respondents to our poll told us:
People are struggling to access GP appointments (90 comments)
“Getting a GP appointment can take weeks. It is very off putting, trying to get through the
barrier of receptionists.”
“Getting an appointment to see a doctor, in the same week you call, is almost impossible.”
“I had to wait 2 weeks to get a face-to-face appointment with a GP and now I have a long wait to see to see a consultant. When you are in pain and worried the wait is too long.“
They are experiences problems with hospitals around poor care and treatment and waiting times to access appointments in hospitals are too long (89 comments):
“The outpatient appointment system is seriously overloaded, and I have in the last year never been able to get an appointment in the timescale the clinic doctor wanted to see me in [..] in fact due to the length of waiting lists I have lost part of my sight permanently.”
“Extremely disappointed with the waiting time for an appointment with Endocrinology, was originally told would be a ma1imum of 21 weeks waiting - it is now over 53 weeks and still nowhere near getting an appointment, just been advised it could be another 20 weeks.”
There are problems around communication within the NHS (51 comments)
“I have had family members who have been referred as urgent, and they have slipped through the net twice. I have no confidence in the referral process or the responsibility
between doctor and consultant.”
“Systems don't talk to each other, so much is still paper based, phones are not answered and answerphone messages not responded to. The only contact made to me was to tell me my appointment was cancelled - when I hadn't even been told it was booked in the first place!”
“Communication and understanding between hospitals and GP surgeries is poor. There is a disconnect between the way the surgeries think and work and the way hospital services think and work.”
Tell us your experience
We always want to hear more about people's experiences of health and care services.
Share your story with your local Healthwatch:
Healthwatch Brighton & Hove
info@healthwatchbrightonandhove.co.uk or 01273 234 040
Healthwatch East Sussex
enquiries@healthwatcheastsussex.co.uk or 0333 101 4007
Healthwatch West Sussex
helpdesk@healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk or 0300 012 0122
