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Torbay Health News - Having Your Say

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Healthwatch Torbay

Rating and Reviewing Your Services

A key aspect of Healthwatch Torbay’s Feedback Centre is a TripAdvisor style online Rate and Review system. We have seen a steady increase in use since the system was introduced and in August we had the highest number of reviews ever recorded in a single month.

All reviews are moderated to ensure individuals and service providers have a chance to respond. This can mean a short delay before the reviews appear on the website.

You will see from ther Feedback Centre that most reviews are positive. When we receive a negative review we encourage providers to take the review seriously and to use the information to help improve the service they are offering.

If we identify a trend of good or poor reviews we may decide to raise awareness at a strategic level, for example, at Health and Wellbeing Boards or following investigation we may decide the issue should be escalated, for example to the Care Quality Commission.

Rate and Review is a very good way of gathering real-time feedback and information about what is happening in health and care locally. We really appreciate your reviews and would encourage everyone to fill in a review the next time you use a health or care service. The link below will take you to our Feedback Centre.

https://healthwatchtorbay.org.uk/services/

“Everyone wants to hold the baby, but who holds the mum”

The arrival of a new baby is a major life event for any family. It can be joyful, exciting, overwhelming and challenging all at once. So it’s essential that parents get all the support they need to help them form strong bonds with their children and help lay the foundations for a healthy, happy life for all involved.

In additional to the expected ups and downs associated with becoming a parent, many people experience mental health problems. About one in four women experience mental health problems during pregnancy and during the 24 months following the birth.

Over the last year, the Healthwatch network has gathered views and experiences from women and their partners. Each one of these stories was different and highlighted that every person’s experience is unique to them, but they did identify three common issues:
• People feel their mental health problems are triggered by a variety of issues
• People don’t know where to turn for help
• People feel scared about how people will respond if they speak up.

You can read the full report and also see what people in Torbay said about maternity and mental health by contacting Healthwatch Torbay.

 

(Author)

Apart from five years studying in Oxford I’ve lived most of my life in London where for many years I was Head of English in a prestigious girls’ school, but since taking early retirement and heading West to be nearer to my two daughters - settling in Torbay with my wife, Anna, in 2011 - I’ve worked in the voluntary sector. I took on the role of Service Provider, for example, promoting the Red Cross Torbay Navigators Project, while now I’m a Trustee and part of the Media Team for our local Healthwatch. I’m a governor at Torquay Academy, too, giving me the chance to stay up to date with what’s happening in the world of education. Other interests, aside from friends and family, include art and art history, reading - from contemporary fiction and poetry to Elizabethan/Jacobean literature - history, politics, cooking, walking, and music, in particular Bob Dylan, the blues, and early Elvis. I love writing, too, with one novel published so far – Elvis in Wonderland – and another, Who’s There?, that still needs plenty of work!