Opinions on health and social care voiced at Parent and Toddler groups in Trafford

About this report 

We wanted to hear from working-age people. To do this we surveyed mother and toddler groups to better understand their experience of using health and care services. Overall we heard from 104 people. 

Key findings

• 78% of respondents to the survey found it easy or quite easy to obtain a GP appointment. There was a geographical variance in responses to this question.
• 92% of respondents found it easy or quite easy to have a blood test in Trafford. The results are evenly spread through the geographical areas of the borough apart from Old Trafford where 81% of respondents found it easy or quite easy to obtain blood tests. 
• Maternity services received 56% positive comments. Areas of concern were highlighted around a desire for more post-natal help, the location of maternity services and the distance travelled. Six respondents felt maternity services were under resourced; staff seemed stretched and very busy.
• 65% of the people who responded to the question on social care are unsure how to access these services. No respondents identified the local council as an organisation to contact about social care services. The most popular method of research for information on social services identified was by using the Internet. 
• 62% of respondents commented that if they needed to access mental health services they would know how to do this. The GP was consistently identified as the initial contact, with health visitors a close second.

Recommendations

• Information be provided on a single website to enable Trafford residents to easily access health and social care services and ensure that information online is regularly updated as services change. Discussion to be had with existing providers of information (Trafford Service Directory, NHS Choices etc) to assess how best to facilitate this.
• We will explore follow-up work with partners on access to services for residents who are not on-line. 
• We will discuss with Trafford Clinical Commissioning Group the disparities in waiting times at GP practices in the North of the borough.
• We will work with residents and service providers to review the types of and the availability of post-natal community services in Trafford.
• As new arrangements for phlebotomy services were introduced, it is recommended that we work with partner agencies to review access to phlebotomy services in Trafford to assess the impact of these changes, particularly in Old Trafford.
• We will work with CMFT to monitor the data collected on Trafford Urgent Care Centre since changes to opening hours were implemented; to identify arising issues and survey patients to assess the impact of changes and whether the patient experience reflects the statistical data.