Summary of what you told us

492 people (83%) said that nothing had stopped or made it difficult for them to contact their GP about symptoms that could be linked to a serious condition such as cancer.

265 people (45%), told us they had avoided contacting their GP during the pandemic, and almost half said this was because they didn’t want to be a burden to the NHS.

124 people (23%) told us they had been unable to access GP or pharmacy services during the pandemic for different reasons including limited appointments, opening times being inaccessible for working people and being unable to get through to book an appointment.

How we developed the survey

We worked with other organisations to develop the survey. We did this to make sure everyone could take part. We also wanted to make sure we asked the right questions.

A small group of people from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Health and Care Partnership Citizen Advisory Panel (CAP) formed a CAP survey group. The survey group reviewed the draft survey questions and gave feedback. As a result of this feedback some questions were changed before the survey was launched.

We also worked closely with NHS Kernow’s primary care and prescribing teams to develop the survey. We shared the survey with NHS England and Improvement and Healthwatch Cornwall for feedback before it went live, as well as the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Pharmaceutical Committee and Kernow LMC (Local Medical Committee).

Members of NHS Kernow’s Transforming Care Programme lived experience group and accessible communications group reviewed easy read versions of the survey. The group checked the survey was suitable for people with learning disabilities. Changes were made to reflect their feedback.

How we shared the survey

People were able to complete the survey online and paper copies were available on request. The easy read version of the survey was available to download from NHS Kernow’s website or on request.

The survey was promoted widely across social media. We also made 2 videos to promote the survey, 1 of these was in British Sign Language (BSL). These videos were shared on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Thank you to Dr Penny Atkinson for taking part in the video.

We shared the survey with lots of organisations and groups. We asked these groups to share the survey through their websites and networks.

Who took part in the survey

A total of 681 people took part in the survey. It is important to note that of the total survey respondents, 252 (37%) are registered patients with Rosedean House Surgery in Liskeard. Thank you to Rosedean House Surgery for sharing the online link to the survey far and wide, including in its patient newsletter, with the practice’s patient participation group (PPG) members and also in its PPG newsletter.

Not everyone answered every survey question. 649 people (95.3%) answered for themselves and the rest completed the survey for someone else.

38% of people who responded to the survey said that they had a long term condition, 45% had carer responsibilities and 18% had a disability.

Number of respondents in each integrated care area

Central integrated care area received 157 responses:

• coastal: 8%
• Falmouth and Penryn: 12%
• St Austell Healthcare: 39%
• Truro: 32%
• Watergate: 9%

North and east integrated care area received 420 responses:

• east Cornwall: 88%
• Holsworthy, Bude and surrounding villages: 1%
• north Cornwall coast: 5%
• Three Harbours and Bosvena Health: 6%

West integrated care area received 102 responses:

• Isles of Scilly and south Kerrier: 10%
• north Kerrier: 46%
• Penwith: 44%

The age, ethnic origin and disability status of respondents to the survey is largely consistent with the wider Cornwall and Isles of Scilly population demographic data captured in the local insight profile for NHS Kernow Cornwall and Isles of Scilly area report by Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion published in November 2020. Please note the below percentages are rounded up to the nearest whole number and so the overall total may add up to more than 100% in some cases

Age of respondents

When describing their age, of those who responded to this question:

• less than 1% said they were under 18 years old
• 1% were between 18 and 24 years old
• 22% were between 25 and 49 years old
• 34% were between 50 and 64 years old
• 28% were between 65 and 74 years old
• 11% were between 75 and 84 years old
• 1% said they were older than 85
• 3% preferred not to give their age

Gender of respondents

When describing their gender, of those who responded to this question:

• 68% said they were female
• 29% said they were male
• 3% preferred not to give their gender
• less than 1% said other

515 people responded to say their gender identity was the same sex they were assigned at birth.

Marital status of respondents

When describing their marital status, of those who responded to this question:

• 60% were married
• 30% were single
• 6% were widowed
• 4% were in a civil partnership

Ethnic origin

When describing their ethnic origin, of those who responded to this question:

• 74% said white British
• 21% said white Cornish
• 2% preferred not to give their ethnic origin
• 1% said other
• less than 1% said:
  • white Irish
  • mixed Cornish
  • white and black African
  • white and black Caribbean

NHS Kernow is absolutely committed to making sure everyone is able to meaningfully provide their feedback on health and care services to us. We will do all we can to make sure people can continue to comment on our services in future.

Disability status of respondents

When asked if they had a disability, as defined by the Equality Act, of those who responded:

• 82% said no
• 18% said yes

Of those that said yes:

• 38% had a long standing illness or health condition
• 23% had a physical or mobility impairment
• 18% selected other
• 14% had a mental health condition
• 3% had a sensory impairment
• 3% had a learning disability or difficulty

Carer responsibilities

45% of those that responded said they give help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of a long-term physical or mental health or disability, or problems related to old age.