LPFT Quality Account Statement for 2022/23
Healthwatch Lincolnshire Quality Account working group: Dean Odell (Contract Manager), Liz Ball (Healthwatch Steering Group Chair), Julie Evans (Information Signposting & Safeguarding Officer) and Hannah Darley (Research and Insight Officer)
Healthwatch Lincolnshire would like to thank Lucy Kent for presenting the LPFT Quality Account and meeting with our representatives.
Healthwatch Lincolnshire share all relevant patient experiences we receive with LPFT and thank you for responding generally within 20 working days. Your responses are shared in turn with the patient, carer or service user who raised the issue, in many cases this provides them with a level of closure they may not otherwise receive. We believe learning through patient feedback and experiences is an essential part of any service improvement and acknowledge your Trust’s work to better assess what has occurred.
Looking back - quality priorities for 2022/2023
We acknowledge the work you have done over the past 12 months to improve the overall performance and on behalf of patients, carers and service users, would like to thank your staff for their hard work and dedication in achieving this.
Improve the involvement of carers and families in patient/service user’s care.
Healthwatch Lincolnshire have recently supported engagement activity within Adult Inpatient settings, and we would welcome the opportunity to continue to support the involvement of cares, families, and patient/service users across LPFT’s services, through similar visits including Enter and View as well as focused engagement and project work. This also provides LPFT with an opportunity to learn from independent patient feedback and deeper dives into areas of interest.
Priorities and challenges for the forthcoming year
We welcome the various work streams and priorities for 2023/24 and the overall emphasis on involvement of carers and families in patient/service users.
Looking at the past 12 months most of the feedback we have received has seen negative experiences in relation to LPFT. Many of the experiences shared to us were case specific, however, others shared several key themes. The sentiments below are shared to give examples of service-related comments.
Access to Services
There were concerns around access to services, both initial access and access to referred services. In particular several individuals shared their struggle of getting assessments for Autism and ADHD and accessing out of hours and CRISIS support. Whilst waiting to access services, individual's symptoms often deteriorated, resulting in some presenting at A&E. Furthermore, carers were left unsure on how to best look after their dependent.
There was also concern around capacity of services and growing demand.
Children's Services
In regard to children's services, the following concerns were shared with us. The first concern raised with us was, again, the difficulty of accessing support especially Autism assessments and emergency support. Furthermore, the appropriateness and usefulness of support was also questioned, with many feeling the support offered was too general and did not match the severity of the problem. Others felt their problems were not taken seriously enough because they were 'too young.'
Finally, the transition between Child and Adult Services was also highlighted. Some felt that the support they received now they were an adult had drastically changed and reduced compared to that which they received when they were a child. These individuals found it difficult to adjust to the transition. This does potentially highlight concerns around communication and preparation during this transition between services.
Poor Communication
Poor communication was a key theme in many of the experiences shared with us. This was both between services (Psychiatrists, GPs and Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs)) and to patients. The lack of communication whilst waiting for referrals to services or for referral appointments was particularly highlighted, with individuals being unsure if they had been referred, when their appointment would be and the support available to them in the meantime.
This lack of communication left individuals without timely support which again resulted in some needing emergency support. Furthermore, because of poor communication some patients appear to be getting 'lost' in the system.
There were two cases where individuals had been referred to a psychiatrist but referred back to their GP without even seeing the Psychiatrist. Neither knew why this had happened.
The final recurring theme related to patients being passed from services to service/professional to professional with seemingly no one taking responsibility for their care.
Patients seemed to be trapped in a 'web', whilst in the meantime not getting any further forward with their care. The above themes very much replicate those found within your complaints and we would like to see over the next year how these are being addressed and how patient feedback is being used and the difference it’s making to improve services across LPFT.
Finally, we continue to see our relationship with LPFT develop positively and look forward to continued engagement with the Trust in the coming year.
