Views sought on your health

It’s a year since COVID-19 turned life in South Holland on its head, and a local group is looking for your views on how your health has been affected.

Healthwatch Lincolnshire, a group that looks to be the mouthpiece for patients in the county, is looking for people to complete a survey on their health, 12 months after a similar survey was created.

You don’t have to have had COVID. It’s also looking at the impacts of lockdown on health.

And it wants to compare current data with results from a survey taken this year.

A spokesman said: “In April 2020, Healthwatch Lincolnshire invited the public to tell us how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting them, both in terms of accessing healthcare services and personally with their emotional and mental health needs.

“The results were shared locally and nationally with healthcare organisations which helped them better understand the impact COVID-19 was having on people.

“One year on, and we are revisiting this work to ask how you have adapted to new ways of accessing healthcare, whether you are excited about getting back shopping, going to the hairdressers or on a night out, or maybe you have re-evaluated your priorities and the things that were once important, no longer are. 

“Perhaps you are apprehensive about going out, not necessarily because of COVID-19, but because it’s been so long since you have been out and socialised that you feel you might need help to start again.

“It is important that healthcare services better understand what is working well and where they need to focus their resources to help people.  It is also useful to tell the system how people have managed to help themselves, and ways you might have found to cope and be more resilient.

“Completing the survey will only take a couple of minutes, it is anonymous and most importantly it will help to direct changes in healthcare services over the coming months and years.”

The survey can be found here.

Physical copies can be sent out on request by calling 01205 820892 or email info@healthwatchlincolnshire.co.uk

The closing date for responses is June 30, 2021.