Your experience matters: how have you been affected by the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak?
When the pandemic took hold earlier this year, we wanted to hear local people’s views and experiences. We ran focus groups and interview sessions with local groups and launched our first survey to give people the opportunity to talk to us about their experiences.
We wanted as many people as possible to be able to share their experiences with us. As well as our online survey and our focus group and interview sessions, we also sent out over 1,000 physical copies of our survey to local people. We did this to make sure that people without access to the internet, or people who would rather respond on paper, could still share their experiences with us. For a small organisation, sending out over 1,000 physical surveys was a big task: envelopes and paper took over our office for the entire spring and summer!
Our dedicated group of volunteers were essential. They spent hours helping us get the physical surveys and information sheets into envelopes, and also helped distribute them to friends, family and neighbours.
"People told us about the toll this period has taken on their mental health, their financial worries and how difficult it has been coming out of lockdown."
We received over 300 responses to our online survey and we are still receiving physical responses in the post. Respondents told us about their concerns and the difficulties they were facing. They also told us good stories about keeping in touch with loved ones, trying out new routines, and reconnecting with old friends and family. People told us about the toll this period has taken on their mental health, their financial worries and how difficult it has been coming out of lockdown. People also spoke about how thankful they were for their family, friends and carers for the support they have received over this period.
"We wanted to make sure that local people’s experiences were heard in decisions about health and social care provision."
We wanted to make sure that local people’s experiences were heard in decisions about health and social care provision. Based on what people had told us, we created and published reports, infographics and blog posts. You can read our work on COVID-19 on our website.
We also shared what we were told in conversations with health and social care service providers and commissioners, public health officials, other local charities and organisations, North West London NHS Trust and NHS England. We wanted to make sure that they understand how rapid changes have impacted patients and what they need to do to make sure that local people can get the help and support they need.
As part of this effort, we met with the special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) lead in Westminster to report on the communication and support needs of parents with children with SEND during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings from this COVID-19 engagement will now be used to help develop improved communications with parents with children with SEND that highlights all the support offered locally.
Alongside this, Thrive LDN are using our COVID-19 engagement findings to support their work ensuring that all Londoners have access to proper mental health support. Our engagement work will contribute to their drive to ensure that mental health provision takes into consideration the lived experiences of those impacted by inequality, injustice or poverty.
We have also been using what we have learnt over this period to make sure that stakeholders involved in the ongoing development of the Borough Plans have access to evidence that sets out how local people, including from identified seldom heard groups, have experienced accessing health services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We want to know what is working, and what is not, so we can make sure that local people’s experiences are reflected in ongoing changes in health and social care provision in Westminster."
Eight months has now passed from the launch of our original survey. The situation in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea is different. Since we launched our survey in March, we have seen new measures to deal with COVID-19 introduced and relaxed. We have had news about a possible vaccine. Most importantly, we are facing a second wave of COVID-19 and have now seen more measures reintroduced.
We want to hear local people’s views and experiences of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to know how people are coping, how services could work better, and what additional support people need. We want to know how things are different now from earlier in the year. We want to know what is working, and what is not, so we can make sure that local people’s experiences are reflected in ongoing changes in health and social care provision in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.
That’s why we’ve created an updated version of our Coronavirus: Your Experience Matters survey. If you have some time, we would love to hear about your recent experiences.
Take our updated ‘Coronavirus: Your Experience Matters’ survey now.
If you require the survey in a different format, or you would like a physical copy of the survey, please email us at info@healthwatchcentralwestlondon.org
You can read more of our work on COVID-19 .
Get in touch
- If you wish to just leave us a single comment on how you have been impacted by Coronavirus
- Send a text or a video to our Whatsapp
- Join the conversation on our NextDoor group
- Be part of our Facebook group
- Talk to us on Twitter
- Send us a picture that reflects how you are coping on our Instagram
- Call us on 020 8968 7049
