Ageing Well in Trafford
Trafford Council commissioned Healthwatch Trafford to explore the experiences of Trafford residents aged 50 and over when accessing health, wellbeing and community support services. Our aim was to understand the barriers people face and shine a light on good practice, while hearing more about what people need.
Through a series of semi-structured, discussions, residents identified barriers at almost every point in the patient journey. Some valued digital services but others told us how important it was to be able to access care over the phone and face-to-face. People frequently had to coordinate their own care, chase referrals, and repeating information several times over to different professionals. Other common themes included:
- Difficulty getting appointments
- Long waiting times
- Poor communication between organisations
- Complex referral pathways
People highlighted transport, mobility, housing situation, confidence, and awareness as factors affecting their ability to access support. They also talked about the ‘invisibility gap’, where those experiencing significant difficulties but did not meet the criteria for specialist support fell through the cracks.
There were many positives that residents wanted to share with us, including:
- Compassionate healthcare professionals
- Supported living schemes
- Community organisations and voluntary groups
These were recognised as making a significant contribution to residents’ wellbeing. Residents consistently emphasised the importance of clear communication, personalised care and being treated as individuals.
Our findings suggest that improving access requires more than increasing service capacity alone. Residents highlighted the need for simpler navigation, clearer communication, coordinated care, accessible transport and a range of ways to access services that reflect the differing needs of Trafford’s older population.
Our recommendations
1. Improve navigation and signposting across health, care and community services
Develop clearer, more consistent signposting so that residents know what support is available, who provides it and how services can be accessed. Consider strengthening the Trafford Directory and promoting it through GP practices, libraries, pharmacies and community organisations.
2. Maintain non-digital routes into services
Ensure that telephone and face-to-face access remain available alongside digital systems. Digital services should increase choice rather than become the only way to access healthcare.
3. Improve communication with patients
Provide clearer communication throughout the patient journey, including referral updates, expected waiting times, confirmation of blood test results (including normal results) and explanations of what patients should expect next.
4. Strengthen coordination between organisations
Reduce the need for patients to coordinate their own care by improving communication between GP practices, hospitals, community services and social care providers. Explore opportunities to provide clearer responsibility for coordinating complex care.
5. Consider the needs of people who fall below eligibility thresholds
Review opportunities to improve advice, signposting and support for residents whose needs are significant but do not meet current eligibility criteria, recognising the experiences described by participants as an “invisibility gap”.
6. Improve transport accessibility
Work with transport providers and community transport services to address barriers affecting access to healthcare and community services, including bus reliability, accessibility, affordability, patient transport and awareness of available travel support.
7. Support community participation
Continue investing in community groups and voluntary organisations that reduce loneliness and promote healthy ageing. Consider additional approaches to engage groups that may currently be underrepresented, including older men, and explore ways of improving the sustainability of volunteer-led activities.
8. Promote personalised, compassionate care
Continue to encourage approaches that place communication, continuity and personalised care at the centre of service delivery, recognising that participants consistently valued being listened to and treated as individuals.
