We asked you to share your views on urgent and emergency care services in County Durham.
Why we had this conversation
NHS leaders in County Durham were looking at the services that are available for people when they had an urgent or emergency health need.
We asked for your help to directly inform any future decisions, by reflecting on the real‑world experiences you have had. Helping us to better understand any barriers, needs and preferences local people may have when needing these services.
Staff and services across County Durham are already working together to help make sure they are meeting patients needs effectively.
However, we recognised that it was not always obvious to know where to go for treatment of an urgent / emergency health need.
Why we asked for your experiences:
We recognised it could be complicated to know which service to use in an urgent/ emergency health care situation
There are some differences in access to these services across the County Durham geography, this needs to be addressed
We wanted to understand people's views on the way services were working so we can improve for the future.
Undertaking the conversation
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their views and experiences as part of this project.
Over eight weeks, feedback was gathered through a public survey, 14 community sessions in addition to targeted outreach with the d/Deaf community, young people and local forums. This helped us collect direct experiences from people right across the County. We appreciate the support from local partners who helped us deliver this work.