People in Workington are encouraged to help improve local GP services by sharing their experiences.
Allerdale Borough Councillor Paul Scott has been appointed chairman of the Workington Patient Participation Group, which meets every two months, giving people the chance to share their experiences of Workington GP practices.
Collaborating with doctors and practice staff, the group hears suggestions from patients on how services could be improved. The aim is to ensure Workington people receive the best possible care.
Mr Scott said: “It’s about working together to improve the services.”
Mr Scott said that the group, formed by Healthwatch Cumbria has been productive, leading to positive change in the area’s health care services.
He added: “It’s amazing how quickly you can pin down small things that have gone wrong or policy errors.” Healthcare professionals listen to the feedback of the group and reporting back to show members that it has made a difference.
He added: “It’s really good to have the updates you get from the doctors and feed that out to the public. It has been working really well, anything we raise, they come back to us next month. They go through all the problems and how to sort them.”
Mr Scott added that one of the recent changes has been the launch of a cancellation phoneline so that the significant number of missed appointments could be reallocated to patients that need them.
And he issued a call for more residents of the Workington area to get involved.
“A lot of people don’t know it’s going at the minute, I think if we can get more people in there, it would be really good to get some younger heads in there.”
Residents can get in touch with Workington Patient Participation Group via its Facebook page here.
