0300 777 6543 Winter 2014

Telephone - 0300 777 6543www.healthwatchhalton.co.uk

Your chance to help shape local services

The local MSK services

assess and treat patients with

disorders or injuries of the

bones and muscles.

The demand for MSK services

in Halton is significant with

figures showing that 1 in 5 GP

consultations are related to an

MSK condition, approximately

8,000 referrals are made to

our Community MSK service

per year and over 1000 of

these patients will then go on

to receive further care within

hospital.

This is in addition to patients

who are directly accessing

secondary care services.

The event will be held on

Wednesday 10th December,

9.00am - 12.30pm at Select

Security Stadium Halton,

Lowerhouse Lane, Widnes,

WA8 7DZ.

For further information, or

to confirm your place at the

event, contact Healthwatch

Halton on 0300 777

6543 or email lwilliams@

healthwatchhalton.co.uk

On Wednesday 10th December we are holding a free event, at the Select Security Stadium in Widnes, in partnership with Halton CCG. This event will be an opportunity to give your views on Musculoskeletal Services (MSK) in Halton.

MSK disorders covers any injury, disease or problem relating to our muscles, bones or joints and are

very common.

1 in 5 GP consultations are related to an MSK condition

8000 referrals to

Community MSK Services

Whilst carrying out our role in the borough we gather feedback from members of the public in Halton on the local health & social care services they use. One of the most common issues raised by people during the past 12 months has been access to local GP services.

From the end of March 2014 to the end of June 2014, we carried out a survey looking at ‘GP access and out of hours provision’ across Halton. In total we gathered 491 responses to the survey and got a very positive response from the groups and members of the public we spoke to.

We found that people really value a good and easily accessible service from their GP but don’t always get it. We would like to see a service that makes it easier for people to see their GP, and get the care they need, when they need it, making the service generally more accessible and easier to use.

Based on what people told us in the survey, we have made a number of recommendations about how access to services might be improved. The results of the survey and our findings have now been put into in to a report which has been sent to Halton CCG, Halton Borough Council, NHS England, Healthwatch England and the CQC. Halton CCG will be

making a formal response to the report and recommendations in January 2015.

A few key findings

• 56% of people rated it as ‘very difficult’ or ‘not easy’ to book an appointment with their GP

• 33% of people rated the time it took to get through to their GP practice as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’

• 62% of people would like their practice to be open longer, particularly weekends and evenings

• 61% of people would like to receive a text reminder about their appointment

• 75% of people would like to be able to order repeat prescriptions online

• 32% of people were unhappy with the way their complaint was handled, these figures

Having difficulty getting an appointment with your GP Practice?You’re not alone!

are very much in-line with

national findings

• People’s general satisfaction

level with their GP was

over 90% across a range of

questions.

For further information please

contact the Healthwatch Halton

Support Team on 0300 777 6543.

The report can be downloaded

from our website - http://www.healthwatchhalton.co.uk/about-us/documents/

Printed copies of the report are

also available on request by calling

0300 777 6543

If you have any difficulty accessing

the report from our website it can

also be downloaded directly from

our Healthwatch Halton dropbox -

http://bit.ly/gpaccess2014

Alcohol and children don’t mix

Did you know that;• more kids recognise beer

than Ben and Jerry’s• 20% of children suffer

because of other people’s drinking, and we are not talking about alcoholics

It’s a frightening thought that our children are now more exposed to alcohol than ever before.

The Health Improvement Team in Halton are working with Drink Wise to help deal with the real problem that alcohol poses to our younger community.

Check out Drink Wise’s Party Fox video to see how your drinking habits can influence a child’s life long relationship with alcohol:

http://drinkwisenorthwest.org/

Take the Drink Wise Challenge

How do you think you would fare against an 11 year old when it comes to alcohol advertising?

As part of their ‘Let’s Look again at Alcohol’ campaign, Drink Wise has devised a quiz which tests people’s knowledge of alcohol advertising.

You can take part in the quiz by visiting the Drink Wise website at

http://drinkwisenorthwest.org/

Car parking charges and number plate recognitionThe car parks are controlled by automatic number plate recognition systems. When paying at the machines you need to input your registration number into the machine. You can pay for your parking at any time during your visit or on your departure but must pay for the time you have been parked for.

All car park users must pay for their parking but there are a range of concessions outlined below.

The first 30 minutes of parking are free and means visitors and patients are allowed to park for that initial half an hour free of charge. The 30 minute scheme has been introduced based on patient feedback and to help visitors dropping off friends or relatives and accompanying them into the hospitals as well as patients who are visiting for quick pre-arranged tests, collecting prescriptions or making other quick visits.

The standard parking charges are:

Up to 30 minutes - FREE

30 minutes up to 5 hours - £3.00

5 hours up to 24 hours - £5.00

You can pay at any time during your visit (on entry or exit) as long as you pay for the time you have stayed. Cars not paying for their time on the car parks are subject to receiving a fixed penalty notice.

Car parking concessionsThere are a range of concessions on car parking charges for regular patients and visitors who need to attend hospital over an extended period. To benefit from these arrangements, you must initially obtain a pay and display ticket on your first visit. Then go

to either the cash office for Warrington Hospital (located near the main entrance area) or the General Office for Halton General Hospital (located in the main reception) to purchase a discounted permit for the period of your treatment.

The range of concessions offered are:There are a number of concessions for patients and visitors attending either hospital.

Patients attending a course of treatment over a number of weeks - present your appointment details to the general office/cash office and you can pay £7 to cover a course of treatment (up to seven visits), and £11 to cover up to eleven visits)

Patients attending on a number of occasions in a week - present your appointment details to the general office/cash office and you can pay £3.50 to cover the rest of the week

Patients attending every day for a week - present your appointment details to the general office/cash office and you can obtain a permit at no charge for the rest of the week

Visitors attending over an extended period - purchase pay and display tickets for the first week, take the tickets to the general office/cash office and you can pay £8 to cover the next seven days. This can be repeated for further weeks.

Hospital travel costs schemePatients in receipt of certain benefits and allowances may be entitled to assistance with travel costs to hospital. Information and reimbursement may be obtained from the cash office at Warrington Hospital and the General Office at Halton General Hospital.

We’ve received a number of enquiries recently regarding the new car parking charges for people attending Halton and Warrington Hospital and the confusion over the ‘free first 30 minutes’ scheme.

We’ve checked on this and now have the following information from Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS FT.

Online NewsletterDid you know that this newsletter is also available electronically?

If you would prefer to receive your Healthwatch Halton newsletter by email rather than through the post please contact us on 0300 777 6543 and speak with a member of the Healthwatch Halton team.

Alternatively, you can contact us via email at enquiries@healthwatchhalton.co.uk, giving your name and address details and we’ll update your details.0300 777 6543

@hwhalton

How to contact us

FREEPOST RTKC-YEJX-UEXR

St Marie’s

Lugsdale Road

Widnes

WA8 6BD

www.healthwatchhalton.co.uk

Talk to usWe welcomeyour views

In addition to all the news & information we normally have on our website, you’ll be able to give feedback on any health and care services you've used and see how other people rate our local services too.

The new online Feedback Centre will be accessible via a variety of devices, including mobile phones, ordinary PCs and tablets, or by visiting our website at www.healthwatchhalton.co.uk

People will be able to easily and anonymously rate the care that

they received in an engaging and simple way from wherever they are.

The online patient feedback data will be part of a much larger dataset being collected by Healthwatch Halton which it will use to analyse the public’s views on a range of organisations and service providers. More traditional methods of patient and user reviews will also be collected, such as the telephone, paper-based feedback and public engagement events.

‘Rate & Review’ your health & social care

Within the next few weeks we'll be officially launching our updated website and our new online rate and review feedback centre.