Wexham and Frimley Park hospitals- service users views

A summary of our monthly hospital visiting program which has been running since September 2023. We have spoken to 240 patients, visitors, volunteers, and staff at Frimley and Wexham Park hospitals.

The program has complemented the work we have done through Enter and View visits, community engagement and other project work. It has also supported our promotion of local Healthwatch and has served to encourage more people to talk to us and to get involved in our activities.

We are committed to seeking out examples of best practice so that we can shine a light on ‘what good looks like’ and help our system partners to learn from it. Alongside this we have shared examples of feedback that highlights improvements that patients wanted to see at our acute hospitals in East Berkshire.

We are passionate about ensuring the voices and experiences of local people influence decisions and improvements across the sector.

With this in mind, we are providing this summary of service visits at the 6 Month mark. We have shared immediate updates with the patient experience lead at Frimley ICS and other partners.

At a glance

  • We heard about issues with the way hospitals communicated with patients about their appointments as well as examples of when this was working well. 
  • Patients told us about good examples of care and wanted to pass on their feedback to the department or individual who had looked after them.
  • Not all patients understood the options for same day treatment in primary care.
  • When people had concerns about care we were able to signpost them to PALS or advocacy. We were also able to offer further listening and signposting via our Healthwatch hub.

Impact- Making a difference

Thank you to the service users who told us about communication difficulties. This feedback has helped to make a difference to the way patients receive information.

'The content of the Healthwatch report is in keeping with feedback that we have received through other methods and supports the current improvement workstreams. In particular, the work reviewing our communication with patients, where we have already seen improvements , and there are further changes planned which will enhance the communication between patients and the trust.'

As a result of your feedback Frimley ICB has committed to improving road signage around the Priors Close urgent care site. This will help to reduce numbers of people attending at Wexham and make sure patients receive the right care in the best place for them. 

'Thank you for this feedback. Through Covid with various service changes in place, the road signage changes have not caught up with the rapid changes in service provision we have had to step up in a short space of time.

We will work with Slough Borough Council and the Highways Agency to improve the signage to ensure visibility of the services we offer to our residents.'

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Wexham and Frimley Park hospitals- service user views

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