The stark impact of the COVID pandemic in disrupting health and care services is laid bare in a recent survey of more than 1,000 UK patients carried out by the Patients Association published on 27 January 2022. The survey concludes disruption to services is both profound and long-term and the NHS is losing patients’ confidence.
Chief Executive, Rachel Power, said: “The results of our survey show quite starkly how the pressures the NHS is under affect patients. And the effects are bad: compromised and delayed care, patients left without information about their care, and one in four patients feeling they are neither respected nor listened to by the professionals who are supposed to care for them.”
Conducted over a month just before Christmas 2021, the survey captured people’s experience of health and social care just before the omicron wave hit the UK. The report, Patient experience before the omicron wave: the storm before the storm, paints a bleak picture of what it means to be a patient in the UK.
The survey found:
- Two out of three patients lack confidence that the health and care system will be able to deliver high quality care and treatment consistently after the pandemic.
- More than half had not been kept informed about what was happening with their care.
- One in four did not feel they had been treated with respect and another one in four reported not being listened to.
- Half had not been able to access the services they needed.
- Half had struggled to get GP appointments.
DirectorsTalk discussed with Marc Howells, CEO of Goodbody Health, how he saw the health care model evolving:
“It’s clear services in every part of England were placed under enormous strain during the pandemic and The Heath Foundation has confirmed that we have the longest waiting list for elective care since current records began in 2007. GP practices and A&E departments have reported very high levels of demand for a wide range of urgent health problems.
The NHS in its Long Term Plan to modernise care sets out that there is a need to give people more control over their own health through community services by partnering with providers like Goodbody Health. Times are changing and there is an enormous focus on prevention rather than cure. This year, we’ve seen the NHS and British Heart Foundation, in their advertising campaigns, building awareness around the importance of routine blood testing, especially to tackle three major killers of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.”
Marc added: “Goodbody Health recently announced the roll-out of blood testing technology to deliver accessible, fast blood test results in the local community. We ordered our first tranche of 100 Abbott blood testing machines, used in the NHS, for our existing UK clinic network. By bringing in innovative technologies into our clinics, Goodbody offers results to tests, such as cholesterol and diabetes, delivered in minutes. The tests are designed to help people assess their wellness and determine any lifestyle changes required to live better. This aligns with our key customer proposition ‘Know More – Live Better’.”
Goodbody Health Inc. (CSE: GDBY / AQSE: GDBY / FRA: 484 / OTC: GDBYF) are a wellness company, focusing on the Health and Wellness of customers through the local community by the introduction and use of cutting edge diagnostic equipment.
Disrupting the ‘old model’ of courier to laboratory style testing.
