OUTSOURCED HEALTH SERVICES ARE NOT UP TO SCRATCH
With more local health services being provided by private providers, DHAG commissioned a survey last February 2020 to find out how local residents rated these service providers and discover what issues patients faced getting to and during appointments.
Previous to this survey being circulated, we had already sent a report to Herts Valley Clinical Commissioning Group, raising concerns we had after receiving several patient testimonials about the poor service they’d experienced.
Further to this, DHAG have been unable to find how these service providers are being held accountable and what targets are in place to ensure the best service possible is received by Dacorum residents.
The full survey report and findings can be read here however the key issues residents highlighted were; poor parking facilities, poor quality of consultation and poor communication.
Many participants also took the opportunity to leave detailed (anonymous) comments about their experiences:
‘very few parking spaces. Has to park in town centre car park and walk from there, having recently had a knee replacement’
‘Felt my mother was rushed especially when she was told she could download her exercises online. Difficult when you don’t have a computer’
‘The telephone number doesn’t seem to be monitored and repeated calls and long waits on the line seemed normal’
DHAG are following up these findings and comments with HVCCG, as whilst our survey was small, there are areas for concern that must be addressed as soon as possible.
We are calling on the HVCCG to undertake a larger, more comprehensive survey to provide better insight and improvements to these services.