Healthcare in limelight as campaigners fight on

PROGRESS is being made in the fight for better healthcare in Westbury but the campaign for a fair deal goes on, say a local health group after meeting  with the NHS and Wiltshire Council.

Sensible Thinking on Patients (STOP), a Westbury volunteer group set up to improve healthcare access for local people, met with Healthwatch Wiltshire, White Horse Health Centre and Wiltshire Council recently.

The group reports that Healthwatch is engaging well with local people and the GP surgery is changing its appointments system following complaints from patients, but that Wiltshire Council is struggling to recruit care workers which is causing concern.

Chair of STOP, Erica Watson, who spent over 50 years working for the NHS, told White Horse News, “Westbury needs more health and social care than nearly all of the other towns in Wiltshire.

“STOP hopes that NHS Wiltshire and Wiltshire Council will address this and prioritise services to reflect statistics in their own reports.

“We absolutely appreciate the financial restraints for both agencies, but feel that we must fight for a fair share of services available.”

The meeting was held as local people fear for the future as they report increasing waits for GP appointments in the rapidly growing town. One resident recently complained of a six-week wait to see a doctor.

A report on STOP’s meeting reads, “Representatives from White Horse Health Centre acknowledged that there were problems with waiting times to see a GP, but reported that they were changing their appointment system and hoped that this would improve the situation. They also stressed that there were still many people not attending booked appointments, which means that others have to wait longer to get an appointment.

“This is a shame and we would urge people to make every effort to let the surgery know if you are unable to get to your appointment.”

The surgery has acknowledged that GP recruitment, which is in a national crisis, is one of its biggest obstacles. A new doctor is due to start in Westbury in the coming weeks.

Staffing is also an issue with local care services, Wiltshire Council said, though no indication was given of how the problem was being tackled.

The group’s report continued, “Wiltshire Council was represented and spoke about the challenges recruiting staff for the care services locally and how this impacted on their ability to provide the service they aspired to. They talked about the low unemployment statistics for Wiltshire compared to other counties but STOP feels that low wages also impacts on many health and social care related issues.”

One care service contracted by Wiltshire Council last year, MiHomecare Wiltshire, was recently rated ‘Inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission, worsening since its ‘Requires Improvement’ verdict in 2015.

STOP revealed that local people were giving helpful feedback to Healthwatch Wiltshire, an independent body representing local people.

The report said, “STOP would like to thank all those who were able to meet with the Healthwatch team – the response was excellent and people were queuing up to talk to them and relate both good and not so good issues regarding health care in the town.

“If you weren’t able to get to any of those sessions please email Healthwatch with any comments you may have about the health and social care services in Westbury via info@healthwatchwiltshire.co.uk ”