Report shows people in Rutland want more health and care services delivered locally

A desire for more local health and care services, better access to GP appointments, better communication between GPs and hospitals, faster and better support for mental health, and continuity of care were among the top things that people in Rutland would like to see improved.

People shared their views as part of Healthwatch Rutland’s ‘What Would You Do?’ activities in April and May, to encourage people in the county to tell us what matters most to them when they use health and care services.

We gathered feedback through two surveys, including one that looked at the experiences of people with long-term conditions, and held focus groups with young people and young adults with learning disabilities, autism or additional needs, and semi-structured interviews with dementia patients and their carers.

Some of the key findings are a reinforcement of comments received by Healthwatch Rutland in previous engagements, but Rutland people have sent a clear message of what they want and need and what is not working well for them. This includes wanting more health and care services to be delivered locally and having easy access to them, better communication between primary care (GP) and acute care (hospital), and better and faster support for mental health patients.

Rutland people also want to be ‘listened to’ by the health and care professionals and want their interactions with them to be considered as a partnership relationship. Carers are more concerned than non-carers about joint decision-making with professionals, convenient travel to access services and in having a say in how NHS money is spent for them if they have a long-term condition.

Our focus groups and interviews highlighted concerns that those with dementia and young people with learning disabilities and additional needs are at risk of being disadvantaged in health and care services due to digital exclusion.

These findings have contributed to a report with Healthwatch Leicester and Healthwatch Leicestershire and shared with Better Care Together (the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland health and social care partnership) to help shape the development of health and care services. We have also published a report highlighting what was shared in Rutland and where the views of people in Rutland differed from those in Leicester or Leicestershire.