National Reports Library

Summary of report content

This report was published in Sept 2017, following a piece of work in July and August 2019 with 24 mental health service users. The project particularly targeted one of the more deprived areas in the county which has high levels of mental health morbidity. The report describes how a number of workshops were held bringing together service users and professionals including GPs, Receptionists and Practice Managers. It states the recommendations from these events were shared with a wider network at a showcase event. As part of this work Healthwatch Hampshire also designed a survey to audit the inclu¬sion and presentation of mental health information in the waiting areas of GP surgeries, as well as the layout and atmosphere of the waiting rooms themselves. As part of our research into people’s experience of presenting mental health concerns to a GP, Healthwatch Hampshire staff and volunteers visited all 6 of Aldershot’s GP surgery waiting rooms. In August 2017, a group of service users reviewed all of Aldershot’s GP websites to see what specific mental health information they contained reviews included: mental wellbeing, symptoms, specific diagnoses, signposting to treatments and self-care. Additionally, website reviews looked at whether information and signposting was easy to find and how appropriate the language and the messages behind it were. Whilst there is no specific reference within the report to identified impact and outcomes, the report does include comments such as ‘Over 90% of surgery staff said that they would implement the idea’; ‘This idea would need to be investigated in more detail and may have serious cost implications’; ‘…this idea was least supported by health professionals as they felt they would be stigmatising …’; and ‘The idea was widely accepted by health professionals and service users alike’.

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