Unpaid carers’ experiences of general practice

Healthwatch Southend prepared a report looking at the experiences of unpaid carers’ when accessing services in primary care.

Summary

Healthwatch Southend conducted a survey to find out what unpaid carers felt about their general practice (GP). The survey aimed to find out if GPs are aware if people are unpaid carers, if they had carried out a carer’s assessment, and people’s overall experience of visiting their GP.

We put the survey on our website and also asked partners such as SAVS, Southend Carers and Carers First to share the survey. The City Council, Essex Partnership Foundation Trust (EPUT) and Mid & South Essex Hospitals also shared the survey with their staff, many of whom are unpaid carers alongside their roles. We used some questions from the national GP Patient Survey. This let us see how the people who responded compare to local results.

Key Findings

• Frustration about the process of making an appointment

• Many were not recorded as carers at their surgery

• Few had a conversation about carers’ assessments, some had received some

• Largely happy with the responses of the clinicians they saw

• Particular attention needs to be given to mental health recognition

• Information available on Southend practice’s websites is variable in terms of ease of access and relevance to unpaid carers

Click below to download the full report 

Carers' experiences of GP_final

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If you need this report in a different format, please email info@healthwatchsouthend.co.uk or call 01702 416320.