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March 2018 Newsletter

Welcome to the latest Healthwatch Bucks Newsletter. This month is all about our 3R’s:
the Reports we've produced, the Recommendations we've made to improve patient experiences and the Responses we’ve received from health and social care decision makers.

All this plus some exciting local news! And of course, the second in our series of articles
on Buckinghamshire’s Integrated Care System.

Our News

We published our telecare report

In October we told you about our survey to find out what telecare users think about the service they get from the Council. The results are now in so read our Report, Staying Safe, Staying Home: telecare services in Bucks. It makes for interesting reading.

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How we're improving patient experience at Stoke Mandeville

We carried out a visit to understand the patient experience of obtaining medications from Stoke Mandeville’s hospital pharmacy. Read what we discovered while we were there, and find out how our Recommendations are already helping to improve patient experience.

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Response to our hearing loss report

In December we published our report on the experiences of people with hearing loss when they are accessing GP surgeries or hearing aid maintenance. In this report we set out recommendations to improve patient experiences. This month we’re delighted to report on the Responses we've received from Bucks Healthcare Trust and from the CCGs .

Response to our Dignity in Care Annual Report

In April 2017, we published our Dignity in Care Annual Report with our recommendations to improve the experience of residents and care home workers. The Council sent us a formal response in June. This month we received an update from the Council.

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Other News

Primary care is coming 24/7

From 3 April, Bucks residents will be able to access primary care services more easily outside of regular daytime hours. Services will also be working more closely to offer a smoother, simpler experience for patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Helping to shape your GP service

Did you know that you can help shape the service you get at your GP practice? You can do this by joining your GP practice Patient Participation Group (PPG).

If you already belong to a PPG, don’t forget the next CCG Patient Participation Group Network meeting. You can view the CCG’s Invite on our website.

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Articles

Real Stories – Helping NHS 111 help others

Our ‘Real Stories’ are about local people’s experiences of health and social care services - those receiving the care and those helping to deliver it.

This month, Sarah talks about how her experience of dialling NHS 111 helped other people get the right advice as soon as possible.

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Patient Participation Groups (PPG) - success stories

Over the past 2 years we’ve worked hard to support Patient Participation Groups in GP practices. Here we showcase the amazing work that PPGs are doing.

This month read about one PPG’s brilliant idea to support people in their community with a monthly pop-in café.

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Buckinghamshire’s Integrated Care System (ICS)

This is the second in our series of articles on Buckinghamshire’s Integrated Care System. Here we explain how health and social care services are working together to bring care closer to home in Marlow and Thame.

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In our next issue

You’ll read about our latest project to support PPGs and of course we’ll showcase another PPG success story. We’ll also share with you some exciting news on our community pharmacy report. And of course, we’ll be bringing you the next in our series on Buck’s Integrated Care System.

All this plus much, much more.

Don’t forget to share this newsletter!

Volunteer with us

We have a number of varied roles for volunteers.

You can view all the latest roles on our website.

Your feedback is vital

We’re here to help make health and social care better for people in Bucks. So please tell us what you think of local services.

Get in touch and help us to shape your services so that they work better for everyone!