‘You Said, We Did’ – August 2025

Our activity in August 2025 included:

You Said

We were contacted by a VCSE organisation about a patient told by their NHS dentist they would have to arrange for an interpreter as they did not speak English, rather than the service doing this for them.

We did

We raised this with dentistry commissioners at NHS Sussex who contacted the Dental Practice and reminded them of their legal duty to provide free translation and interpreting services to NHS patients (funded by NHS Sussex).

You Said

We heard from an individual who wanted their experience of health services to be shared with providers and commissioners to help improve access for people with visual impairments. 

We did

We are sharing this feedback with NHS Sussex Commissioning and Improvement Teams, East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (ESHT), as well as the Sussex Health Equity Partnership for consideration.

You Said

A disabled person contacted us for help as their stair lift  had broken and the contractor from their housing association had not repaired it, despite the health and safety risk.

We did

We shared the housing associations complaints process and policy regarding emergency repairs. We also provided information about the Housing Ombudsman Service who they can contact if the repair and subsequent complaint are not dealt with to their satisfaction.

You Said

We were contacted by an East Sussex resident who had recently moved from another county and wanted to transfer their hospital records to East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (ESHT). 

We did

We advised speaking with the Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) team from their previous hospital to clarify procedures for patient record transfers. We explained the role of Subject Access Requests (SAR) and  suggested contacting their consultant's secretary to request documents.