Have your say on telephone and video appointments at hospital Outpatient Clinics

Healthwatch Calderdale has been asked to do some community engagement about changes the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) is making to the way it delivers outpatient care.  

CHFT is planning to introduce outpatient telephone/video consultations in the future, as well as the face-to-face outpatient appointments it already offers.  By making these changes it is hoped that patients will require less time off work to attend hospital outpatient appointments, have less delays with their treatment, shorter waiting times and fewer unnecessary hospital appointments. 

 CHFT wants to find out if there are any barriers to using the services for people with protected characteristics.  On behalf of CHFT, we have been asked to talk about these changes to local people/carers of local people who have:    

• A learning disability  
• A sensory impairment  
• A developmental disability  
• A cognitive impairment  
• A mental health condition  
• A physical or mobility impairment  
• A long term condition 

 As well as  

• older people 
• people who do not speak English, or who only have a basic or limited command of the English language 

The issues we are exploring are whether the people in the groups listed above would be able to access the telephone/video care system without difficulty; what difficulties there may be and how the hospital trust can overcome such difficulties.

Click here to have your say in this project before 13 September 2019