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Our response to this listening exercise focused on sharing feedback that members of the public have shared with us about their experiences of technological innovations in accessing health and care services.

This consultation gave us an opportunity to highlight the historical issues Healthwatch Birmingham has often raised about the positioning of West Birmingham. Consequently, the problems this presents for governance, planning and day-to-day tasks.

In addition to sharing feedback about people’s experiences of accessing walk-in-centres in West Birmingham, we welcomed the CCG’s engagement process.

In our response to NICE’s consultation we argued that if pharmacies are to provide some of the services that are provided by GPs, it is important that they offer people recourse to complaints as well as a clear route for sharing their experiences.

Improving the quality of patient and public involvement undertaken by providers and commissioners of health and social care is a key aim of our PPI Quality Standard. We often use the principles of the standard to comment on PPI when providers and commissioners engage with the public. 

We welcomed the CCG’s plan to ensure that it stops variation in accessing NHS-funded services across the CCG population and ensuring that access is equal and fair. However, we highlighted that the effectiveness of this service in meeting the needs of West Birmingham residents will depend on how they are implemented and the principles that govern their implementation. 

Our response to the PCN service specification focused on highlighting the current concerns that service users tells us about accessing GP services. We also shared the findings from our study on ‘what matters most: support people want from general practices in Birmingham’ to highlight what people value from GP services. We therefore asked NHS England to consider these experiences in the implementation of the specification noting the additional pressures this placed on GPs.