Accessing primary care
“Being unable to access a doctor has led to my health failing further and has affected my mental health.”
Primary care access was the focus of an NHS meeting. Healthwatch ran a session to share people’s experiences of accessing primary care and GPs locally. We talked about how positive experiences and examples of good practice can be shared to make things better for more people. We know that we hear that experience can be variable from practice to practice and even within practices, and this report highlights the challenges that some people face when accessing this care.
Thank you to everyone who provided responses and shared your thoughts and experiences. The responses to the survey were used to develop this briefing paper which was included at the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board meeting and helped to make sure that real experiences are considered and are influencing decisions.
An integrated care board (or ICB) is a statutory NHS organisation which is responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of the population, managing the NHS budget and arranging for the provision of health services in a geographical area. It is part of West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, along with local Healthwatch.
