Have your say on Health, Pharmacy, GP Services and Youth Matters
Pharmacy Services
Residents are being asked for their views to update the assessment and commissioning of pharmaceutical services in Wiltshire, up until 2025.
The survey gives you an opportunity to comment on what works, what can be improved, and what you would like to see from these types of services.
The survey runs until 18 January 2022 and can be found here:
The results of the survey will contribute towards a draft Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) being produced, and this will be reviewed by the Wiltshire Council Health and Wellbeing Board in spring 2022.
GP services
Healthwatch Wiltshire is working with other Healthwatch teams across the south to hear your experiences of GP services over the last six months.
The Covid-19 pandemic has put a huge strain on the NHS and had an impact on how we access health services. Staff at GP practices have been working hard to deliver the vaccine programme, catch up on the backlog of treatments and respond to new ways of working such as offering video and telephone consultations and providing online consultation software, such as e-Consult.
For some people these new ways of accessing GP services have worked well, saving time and making it easy to access help, quickly. But for others it’s been more difficult, time consuming and frustrating to get timely support.
How you can help
We’ve already run a survey for GP staff to understand how their roles have changed during the pandemic, what practices do well, and what challenges they face. Now we need to hear about your experiences of accessing GP services so we can help the NHS understand what is working well and what could be better.
Please help us by completing our questionnaire and tell us about your experiences of accessing GP services in the last six months. We’d like your feedback on how you contacted your GP practice, how you booked an appointment and how your appointment went.
The Healthwatch Survey can be found online at:
www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/wiltsGPaccess Everything we hear will be collated and shared with NHS services and organisations to help shape the way services are developed in the future. All feedback is anonymous and confidential.
The closing date for the survey is Friday 31 December 2021.
For more information about us and what we’re working on, visit our website
Wiltshire Youth Council
Young people can get involved in local decision making and have a say on funding for youth projects as part of a new democratic body being set up for Wiltshire.
The Wiltshire Youth Council will start next year, with representatives from secondary schools across the county elected to speak out on issues that are important to them.
Wiltshire Youth Councillors will have the power to:
Meet up with Wiltshire Council leaders and have their say on local decisions.
Work with area boards to ensure funding for youth projects has the right impact for them andtheir peers.
Inspect services to ensure they represent young people’s best interests.
Easily communicate with their peers so young people’s views are properly represented.
Opportunity to shadow council leaders as a shadow youth cabinet member for a particular area of interest.
Schools are being invited to encourage 11-17 year olds to put themselves up for election, with elections due to take place between 31 Jan and 4 Feb 2022.
Youth councillors will be asked to commit one evening per month to attend a full youth council meeting, which will focus on issues important to the young people.
They will also be expected to talk to their peers about the issues and represent their views. There will be training to support them in their roles, covering topics including debating, running a youth inspection and delivering presentations.
You can watch videos of Cllr Laura Mayes and Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council talking about why it’s a good idea to be part of the Wiltshire Youth Council here .
For further information email: childandyouthvoice@wiltshire.gov.uk
What is an Area Board?
Area boards exist to work alongside other organisations to make things happen in the community. These groups can include town and parish councils, voluntary and community groups, youth organisations, sports clubs and local charities.
Area Boards are a way to bring local decision making into the heart of the community, not like old-fashioned council meetings, but with lots of opportunities for local people to get involved.
Meetings take place in each community area and between these meetings different task groups consisting of local people, Wiltshire Council staff and councillors tackle local issues and find solutions to meet local priorities.
An important role of the area boards is to provide grants to community groups via three separate funding schemes.
Youth funding allocated in partnership with local youth networks helping to provide positive activities for young people in the target age range of 13-19.
Health and Wellbeing groups help to award funding for services that support older or vulnerable people from our communities.
Capital funding for local groups, helping to purchase equipment, assets, refurbish existing buildings or build new ones.
More information and next meeting dates can be found here:
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