“Our Stories, Our Voices: The Power of Lived Experience” with ‘Gifted Women’

Key Findings
The following key findings have been identified from this engagement activity, based on the views of these women in Plymouth:

• Women who experience multiple disadvantages face additional barriers to accessing health and social care including distrust in ‘professionals’ based on past experiences.
• The absence of a shared patient record system forces women to repeatedly recount their story.
• Women with past histories of addiction are being prescribed addictive medication in primary care.
• Participants felt their problems were too complex to communicate in a ten-minute Primary Care appointment.
• Participants identified a need for an intermediary, who can understand their full needs, who is then able to liaise with Health and Social Care services on their behalf.
• When health professionals went “above and beyond” for an individual, it made a difference beyond resolving the immediate problem.

Recommendations
Healthwatch have the following recommendations:

• All GP practices within Plymouth make use of trauma training through the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network.
• Livewell’s FUSE programme be widely adopted by all Health and Adult Social Care providers for individuals with multiple disadvantages so
  that their complex stories are more easily understood.
• Changing Futures ‘Your Story’ project is adopted by all Health and Adult Social Care services to support service users with a complex story to tell.
• Patients with a history or risk of addiction should be identified before prescribing addictive medication, with alternative treatments considered whenever possible.