Access to primary care - patient perspective
Summary
Working in collaboration with the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB) and Sunderland City Council, we designed and conducted a piece of research involving individuals living in some of the most deprived areas of Sunderland (as identified by the Index of Multiple Deprivation), and those who face greater health inequalities.
The focus of the work was to discover barriers individuals might face in accessing Primary Care services, and what could be changed or improved to reduce these barriers.
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Following the publication of our report we received this response from the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB):
We're delighted to see the publication of this report, by Healthwatch Sunderland. Following on from the extensive public engagement carried out in 2022, which highlighted some of the issues the residents of Sunderland face while accessing primary care services, the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB) has collaborated with Healthwatch once again, to gain a better understanding of the barriers those individuals who face greater health inequalities encounter when trying to access healthcare in Sunderland.
The information gathered via this exercise will help shape the future of services going forward, there is both a local and national commitment to improving access to general practice and the opinion of the residents of Sunderland is an important part of this work.
Currently, the national Primary Care Access Recovery Plan aims to improve access to primary care services, focusing on:
- Tackling the '8am rush' (eliminating the need for patients to call back repeatedly to book appointments)
- Empowering patients (promoting self-care through the NHS App, self-referral pathways, and increased services offered by community pharmacies)
- Building capacity (increasing the diversity of staff involved in delivering services across primary care)
We will use the information contained in this report to continue our future plans for improving access to primary care, including:
- Focusing on preventative health care and potentially using outreach clinics and alternative methods of delivery to reach individuals who would not or cannot access routine screening and health checks.
- Promoting other routes to access care and highlight the different and varied roles available in primary care other than GPs.
- Continuing to improve access to general practice through developing and offering alternative booking/appointment options.
This work continues to be one of our key priorities in Sunderland, and we hope over the coming weeks and months, residents will start to see the further benefits of this when accessing primary care services.
