“Have you had your say?”
Help shape your local NHS services for the future by telling us what you think. Get involved by completing a series of simple questionnaires.
How to get involved
If you are currently living in the Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend areas, we want you to tell us why your local NHS needs to change by completing simple multiple choice questionnaires, which should only take around 10 minutes. We will be asking you a few questions about your health and your recent use of the NHS (if you have had any). Don’t worry - everything you tell us will be completely confidential. We will then send you reminders to return to us regularly to repeat the process when new questionnaires are available.
Your views are just as important even if you are not a patient! Tell us now!
About YouTellUs
YouTellUs is working with Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU) to help them understand what you and others living in their area think about their future plans and their current services. ABMU is the NHS organisation that provides health care to all people that live in the Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend areas.
Like all of the Health Boards in Wales, ABMU are thinking hard about how they can improve their services and they really want you to tell us what you think. Like most of the UK, the NHS in Wales believes it is probably going to have to change in order to improve. ABMU are just starting out on a long term project to look at this, which they are calling “Changing for the Better”.
YouTellUs will be helping ABMU by getting your views on their plans, their services and, if you are a patient, how your health has been affected by the care they provide. Don’t worry if you are not a patient! YouTellUs still want you to take part. Your views are just as important and we still want you to tell us things.
What are the challenges facing our local NHS?
- Unequal health - where you live in the ABMU area makes a big difference. Some people enjoy 17 more years of being healthy than others.
- A growing population - including more babies and older, frail, people.
- Poor lifestyle - smoking, being overweight, too much alcohol and not exercising enough.
- Long term illness - the number of people with illnesses like chronic diabetes and chest conditions is rising.
- Staffing - a serious shortage of some doctors is making some services very hard to deliver safely.
- Funding - NHS funds are tight and getting tighter in the current economic climate.
If ABMU keep on delivering services like they do now, they won’t be able to meet these challenges - and the standard of NHS care will deteriorate. ABMU don’t think that’s acceptable.
ABMU Changing for the Better
So, working with others, ABMU is making plans under a project called Changing for the Better to redesign local NHS services.
This is still in working progress, but here are some ideas to share with you now:
- ABMU need to do more to support people to live healthier lifestyles. You will have an important role to play, as wellness begins at home.
- ABMU think they should spend more of our budget on GP and community services, and preventing illness; and less on hospital services.
- ABMU must make better use of our staff. This could mean combining some services, instead of spreading them thinly across several places. You may have to travel further, but you will get better and safer services, organised with expert teams.
Change can be worrying, but in reality NHS care is changing all the time. And, importantly, improving the quality of care often means it is less expensive because it is more effective and wastes less.
Examples of recent changes:
- Some people with chronic lung disease now have most of their care at home, not in hospital.
- Some patients with kidney failure have been taught to have dialysis overnight, in their own home, instead of at hospital.
Find out more about Changing for the Better at http://www.changingforthebetter.org.uk
South Wales Programme
Running in parallel with the ‘Changing for the Better’ programme is another NHS change project called the South Wales Programme. This involves ABMU working with other Health Board in the South Wales area to look at how we can improve some specialist services not only for local patients, but across a wider South Wales region.
The South Wales Programme hasn’t been looking at as many services as Changing for the Better has, but it has considered some of the same services, so has implications for services in Swansea, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot.
You will also find South Wales Programme information on http://www.changingforthebetter.org.uk and can give your views on it on the Tell us now!