Patient Voice in Sandwell: Heard, Filed, Forgotten.

Patient Voice in Sandwell: Heard, Filed, Forgotten.

Patient voice in Sandwell is stuck in a loop of consultations, digital barriers and failing PPGs. A sharp look at why nothing changes despite “engagement”.

#Sandwell #NHS #PatientVoice #PPGs #HealthwatchSandwell #ICB #ICS #TotalTriage #DigitalExclusion #HealthySandwell

Somewhere in a Sandwell office, there’s a giant cupboard full of reports titled “We’re Listening!”, “Have Your Say!”, and “Your Voice Matters!”

And next to them? The outcome of all that “engagement”: absolutely nothing.

#Engagement #LocalDemocracy #PublicInvolvement

If listening alone fixed anything, we’d be the healthiest borough in England and I’d finally get a holiday.

Healthy Sandwell: Great Branding, Limited Power

#HealthySandwell #PublicHealth #StrongerSandwell

Healthy Sandwell is everywhere — posters, workshops, colourful graphics, wellness campaigns, walking groups. It’s practically the Disney Channel of public health.

But underneath the bright branding?

It’s a signposting machine, not a system-changer.

Healthy Sandwell can encourage exercise.

It cannot fix GP access.

It cannot force consistency.

It cannot address digital poverty.

Nice website — shame it can’t redesign the NHS.

#HealthInequalities #LocalGov

Healthwatch Sandwell: The Lone Witness

#Healthwatch #HealthwatchSandwell #PatientExperience

Healthwatch Sandwell actually turns up, listens, writes reports and chases responses.

They deserve credit for that.

But they’ve got:

no enforcement powers

limited resources

and a system that has mastered the art of smiling, nodding… and ignoring.

They are the witness in the room — but the jury’s asleep.

#Accountability #Governance

PPGs: The Patient Voice the NHS Pretends Exists

#PPGs #PrimaryCare #GPAccess #NAPP

Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) are legally required in every GP practice.

They are meant to be our collective voice.

In Sandwell?

Some PPGs haven’t met since 2018.

Some only exist as a mysterious email list.

Some are handpicked by managers to avoid difficult conversations.

PPGs should be the people’s parliament of primary care.

Right now, they’re more like decorative pot plants.

#CommunityVoice #NHSReform

Total Triage: The Velvet Rope Outside Your GP

#TotalTriage #CareNavigation #GPAccessCrisis

Total Triage was meant to improve access.

Instead it has become a velvet rope separating patients from the GP.

Patients are now dealing with:

online forms shutting after 8 minutes

receptionists acting as human firewalls

vague “your request has been processed” messages

no continuity

no clarity

no humanity

It’s not triage — it’s bureaucracy pretending to be innovation.

#NHSInnovation #PrimaryCareReform

Digital Exclusion: Sandwell’s Hidden Health Barrier

#DigitalExclusion #HealthInequalities

Sandwell is one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK.

Many residents:

share devices

have limited data

struggle with English

cannot navigate complex online systems

Digital-first has quietly become digital-last for thousands.

We didn’t fix access; we just moved the chaos onto a screen.

#DigitalDivide #SocialJustice

The Black Country ICB/ICS: Glossy Engagement, No Gears

#ICB #ICS #PublicEngagement #HaveYourSay

Our ICB/ICS love engagement:

Surveys. Workshops. Warm hub pop-ups. Ten-year vision exercises.

Colourful PDFs.

Lots of “your feedback is important to us”.

You ask, “What changed because of this?”

And suddenly all you hear is NHS tumbleweed rolling past.

They’re brilliant at recording patient voice.

Not so brilliant at acting on it.

#SystemFailure #NHSLeadership

National Bodies: Tools Without Teeth

#NHSEngland #PatientsAssociation #NAPP

NHS England publishes guidance.

NAPP produces PPG toolkits.

The Patients Association explains how to complain.

CQC offers feedback portals.

Useful — but none of them can force change.

It’s like giving patients a megaphone inside a sound-proof box.

#AccountabilityGap #SpeakUp

The 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres: Hope or Hype?

#NeighbourhoodHealthCentres #PrimaryCare

The Government’s promise of 250 new neighbourhood health centres could be transformational.

Or…

They could just become larger buildings containing:

larger triage hubs

larger queues

larger hurdles

larger frustration

A shiny building doesn’t fix a broken culture.

#HealthReform #FutureNHS

The Real Issue: A Voice Without Power

#PatientVoice #LocalHealth #CommunityAdvocacy

Here’s the simple truth:

Sandwell does not lack ways for patients to speak.

Sandwell lacks ways for patients to be heard.

We have:

PPGs (barely)

Healthwatch

Healthy Sandwell

ICS engagement

PALS

CQC

National bodies

But we do not have:

enforcement

consistency

accountability

transparency

meaningful co-production

functioning PPG networks

any mechanism that forces the system to change

The NHS listens loudly.

It acts quietly.

Far too quietly.

#HealthInequality #PatientRights

Closing Thought: The Sandwell Engagement Cycle

#LocalDemocracy #CivicEngagement

1. Announce shiny new initiative.

2. Hold energetic meetings.

3. Produce glossy booklet.

4. Promise transformation.

5. Forget it exists.

6. Relaunch the same idea 18 months later with a new logo.

If it wasn’t so serious, you’d almost admire the choreography.

Sandwell residents aren’t asking for miracles — just honesty, continuity, access, and a system that doesn’t require Olympic triage skills.

Until then, we’ll keep asking the same simple question:

“Yes, but when will you actually do something?”

#Sandwell #NHS #PatientExperience #VoiceOfThePeople #DoBetter