Debbie Richards, Managing Director Mental Health & Learning Disabilities, has responded to the points we raised following our month-long survey.
Overall, the findings of the report were well received:
With 27 responses, the Healthwatch survey represents a small proportion of the people who use our services. Notwithstanding that, we feel it is an important piece of work and we are grateful to Healthwatch for its prioritisation of mental health within its work in the county and for carrying out the survey. The main theme coming out of this survey is about service users being listened to.
The Trust explained that they already use “I Want Great Care” to collect feedback about their services. They said that between Oct 2018 and Oct 2019 they received around 18 response per month.
The response details several activities already completed by the Trust, prior to receiving our recommendations.
These included:
- the appointment a Patient Experience and Involvement Lead for the Adult and Older People services.
- “Sit and See” visits to the waiting areas of the Valley Centre and Amersham Health Centre once per week for 7 weeks from July to September 2019.
- the creation of a service user forum
- taken steps to increase the number of “I Want Great Care” responses for the Chiltern Adult Mental Health Team by installing a kiosk with an iPad in the reception area at the Valley Centre.
You can read the full response below.