11.10.2016
Croydon residents tell health commissioners their views on GP services
Croydon’s residents had the opportunity to tell health commissioners about their views on GP services as part of a health charity’s annual meeting, last week.
The Healthwatch Croydon Annual Meeting event, How will changes in Croydon’s GP services affect you?, held on 5 October at the Community Space,was attended by over 100 people, with over 200 new comments received on services, to add to the 1,800 comments that contributed to a recently-published report. Residents from across the borough were represented as well as health professionals, charity volunteers, councillors.
Paul Young, Deputy Director for Commissioning and Dr Agnelo Fernandes, Assistant Clinical Chair at NHS Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group, who are responsible for buying GP services, presented an overview of service change and took questions from Croydon residents. They then stayed for the patient experience session, where residents discussed issues on accessibility to GP services, customer service and gaining the right services, and listened to responses and fed-back with comments.
The event also saw Charlie Ladyman, Chief Executive, review Healthwatch Croydon’s year, focusing on the impact of evidence-based reports on mental health, hospital discharge and child autism services. John Davey, Chair, outlined priorities for the coming year, including a focus on GP services, mental health and sexual health services.
The event was attended by the Mayor of Croydon, Cllr Wayne Trakas-Lawlor, who expressed his thanks for the work Healthwatch Croydon was doing in representing the views of Croydon residents: “Healthwatch Croydon is doing an amazing job highlighting the challenges and improvements that need to be made.”
Croydon resident and Healthwatch volunteer, Tariq Salim, explained why he volunteers and how the organisation is making a difference in improving health and social care services for all.
The event followed with a community fair with eight organisations represented including: AGE UK Croydon, Asian Resource Centre of Croydon, BME Forum, Croydon Adult Social Services Users’ Panel, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, Mind in Croydon, NHS Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group and VoiceAbility.
John Davey, Chair of Healthwatch Croydon said: “Many thanks to all who attended to making this such an engaging event. It was great to have so many residents, councillors and health service professionals in attendance. I am grateful to the CCG for their efforts and for the Mayor for his contribution.”
Charlie Ladyman, CEO of Healthwatch Croydon said: “It was great to so many views about GP services, and for Healthwatch Croydon to be the platform where residents could voice their questions and views directly to CCG decision-makers. This emphasises our role at bringing key stakeholders together and all contributes to delivering better services for Croydon.”
