Health chiefs ask for feedback from A&E users
5.6% more people used A&E services at Wiltshire and Bath hospital's in 2024
Health chiefs in Baines, Swindon and Wiltshire are asking for feedback from people who have been to A&E recently.
The Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) Integrated Care Board (ICB) is asking for people to tell them why they went to A&E after recording a 5.6% rise in admissions last year.
ICB Chief Nurse Officer, Gill May, told us the survey is to help them understand if people are accessing emergency departments correctly, or if their issues could be treated through one of the other NHS services.
Gill said: "We want to look at our overall resources that we've got available and ensure that we meet the need of our residents in the right place because as we know, if somebody turns up to an Ed department, that really is for accidents and emergencies, so we want to use the feedback to really tell us and inform us if are there gaps in what we have available to the public."
She added the organisations wants to explore why there has been such a spike in people visiting A&E, as it's not a figure reflected in other areas of the country.
With a growing population, the ICB wants to understand if the rise is simply because there are more people, or if alternative services aren't being used as well as they could be.
Gill said: "We want to understand as well, had they attempted at any point to contact whether it's their GP, or had they gone to a pharmacist.
"We need to understand what was the response in accessing that service that may have been on the day or actually some weeks later, that they then left it until they became quite poorly."
Over a thousand people have already responded to the survey, but Gill said it's critical more of us do so, as it's a big chance to have our say on services for patients.
Gill said it will help them improve the experience for everyone visiting an emergency department.
She said: "We have to ensure we have the right capacity in place to support people that do not need that level of care to be able to access it outside of that hospital environment."
We can complete the survey here.