Coronavirus West Berkshire: Healthwatch asking people to share thoughts of pandemic

Organisation running survey

WEST Berkshire residents are being asked to share their experiences of health and social care services during the coronavirus pandemic.

Healthwatch West Berkshire wants to capture the information to help health and care services to understand how information is reaching people and the impact the changes had on people’s lives.

Healthwatch West Berkshire chief officer Andrew Sharp said the survey was important, assessing topics such as did people try and get hold of a doctor or nurse, volunteer for any services and how people’s mental state changed throughout lockdown.

He said: “We can take it back to the providers and commissioners and say this is what the people think.

“Life is not just about clinical decisions, especially when faced with difficult choices people have had like not seeing relatives or taking them into hospital.

“People potentially giving birth, having operations or chemotherapy on their own – I think things like that are going to have an impact.”

Mr Sharp said interviews with care home residents were also being planned.

“The key part of that is we want families and friends who have not been able to see them to talk about any challenges and issues because of it.

“How have they coped, have you been able to use Skype to see them?”

The survey can be found at https://www.healthwatchwestberks.org.uk/