Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people had their face-to-face mental health support stopped. To make sure people could still access support, remote support was offered.
Healthwatch Bucks have attended the Buckinghamshire Mental Health COVID-19 strategic response group since April 2020. From this, we became aware that remote appointments were an area lacking in service user feedback.
We wanted to find out about the patient experience of remote support for mental health treatment from adult mental health services since April 2020.
We designed a survey, working closely with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust who run mental health services in Buckinghamshire. Our survey ran online during May and June 2021.
We wanted to find out:
- About the treatment people had received
- Any previous treatment they had
- Changes made to their treatment since the COVID-19 pandemic
- Access to their support
- Their experiences of appointments.
In total, we received 54 valid responses.
We have sent a request for a response to our recommendations to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
