Survey reveals people in Wales think primary care services should support with non-medical issues
A new survey has found that 80 per cent of people in Wales believe primary care services (e.g. community pharmacies, optometrists, dentists and GP surgeries) have a role in supporting people with everyday issues like diet, housing and staying physically active.
According to the latest Time to Talk Public Health survey by Public Health Wales, 74 per cent of people think healthcare professionals have a large responsibility to ask patients about non-medical needs (e.g. problems with housing, not having enough food or unemployment), which may be affecting their health. Additionally, 80 per cent think primary care services have a responsibility in referring people to local services that can offer them non-medical support (e.g. food banks and housing charities) when required.
The results demonstrate that people in Wales recognise that their health is influenced by their wider circumstances and feel it is acceptable for healthcare professionals to ask about these.
Findings
The survey also found that:
- 70 per cent of people support the allocation of funding for primary care services being based on community needs (e.g. health status, employment levels, quality of the environment), and 51 per cent of people support this approach even if it would mean areas with better health would receive less primary care services.
- 93 per cent of people said access to healthcare was one of the biggest factors impacting whether someone experiences good health, followed by good quality, warm housing (89 per cent), good financial security (78 per cent), good social connections (77 per cent), and fair working conditions (77 per cent).
Flexibility
People also value flexibility and consistency when accessing healthcare. If people had multiple health concerns, 60 per cent of people said they would be happy to wait longer for an appointment with a healthcare professional at a GP surgery if it meant being able to talk about more than one issue at once.
In addition, if seeing a healthcare professional at a GP surgery for an existing health condition, 57 per cent said it would be more important to be seen by the same healthcare professional than it would to be seen quickly (20 per cent).
Dr Kerry Bailey, Public Health Consultant, Lead for Reducing Health Inequalities, Primary Care Division at Public Health Wales, said: “As a practicing GP, I know some of these responses may cause debate, but this survey highlights that people in Wales want fair healthcare services, and they recognise that where we live and the conditions we work in also affects our health.
“It also highlights that people are supportive of healthcare services having a role in talking to us about these aspects.”
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This dependency mindset is what has destroyed the function of the NHS. It can only work if focussed. These other issues are the proper responsibility of local organisations possibly even charities.
Just scanned that article and can’t believe that 80% of people in Wales are so hopeless or helpless that they have to get “someone else” to sort things out for them. I support the idea of a welfare state but this need for a nanny state reflects badly on all of us.
Great idea, just outsource every morsel of personal responsibility to the NHS. Learn some basic cook skills, to manage personal finances, and the basics of nutrition and exercise. You have a phone that’s permanently connected to the Internet!
This reminds me of that local woman complaining about her daughters state funded £100k pa each ‘private’ school giving them 1 to 1 attention the other side of England, so she could wipe here hands of them – apart from complaining that they were turning into another her! Meanwhile back here we have class sizes of 60 for the normal well behaved kids. The stay in bed society and their ‘I want it all and I want it now’ mentality is now going into turbo-drive, while those who work hard are too busy to even notice this is happening –… Read more »
Woah! 80% of 2,500 selected PHW supporters… per their website “Time to Talk Public Health is a nationally representative group of around 2,500 people from across Wales who support the work of Public Health Wales”. These aren’t vanilla Welsh NHS service users and due to selection-bias are unlikely to represent all “people in Wales”, eg chronicly anxious/depressed are unlikely to engage, yet they may most value continuity of care. A local surgery’s current survey is so poorly/craftily worded it is hard to even register dissent (credit to TTPH publishing their questions in their report).