Liverpool University Dental Hospital Special Care Unit Listening Event Report - October 2024

Introduction

On Thursday 10th October 2024 Healthwatch Liverpool conducted a visit to follow-up on a recommendation made in the report we published after the Listening Event that we held at the Hospital on Tuesday 16th January 2024.

This recommendation said:

“We were not able to speak with as many patients in Special Care Dentistry as we had hoped to. This was partly because Healthwatch Liverpool’s Lead for Learning Disability and Neurodivergence was unable to take part in the visit due to the weather conditions. We would therefore like to arrange a visit specifically to this department to learn more about its work, and, potentially, to act as a precursor to arranging a visit by members of our Learning Disability and Neurodivergent Sub-Groups.”

Two members of Healthwatch Liverpool staff took part in the follow-up visit, including our lead officer for patient experience at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LUHFT) and lead officer for learning disability and neurodivergent work. We spoke with staff and patients’ family members and made them aware that there was no obligation to speak with us and that everything they told us was voluntary and anonymous (unless safeguarding issues were raised that we were required to share with staff). No safeguarding concerns were raised. 

This report details all the feedback gathered on the day, and also includes our own comments and observations.

Recommendations

1. Increased usage of Easy Read information and resources would make the unit more welcoming to people with learning disabilities, people who find reading difficult, or speakers of other
   languages.
2. Ensure there is a board/space for information aimed at patients with learning disabilities and/or autism within the patient waiting areas.
3. A display of photographs of staff members may help to reduce anxiety for some patients.
4. Patients with learning disabilities and those who are neurodivergent tell us that including photographs and/or a video ‘walk through’ of the journey into the hospital and through to the
   reception, waiting area and an appointment space on the hospital’s website is very helpful. This has been done for other LUHFT services and it would be interesting to know whether it has
   also been considered at the Dental Hospital.
5. NHS patients tell us that they like to see ‘You Said, We Did’ style information displayed in public areas. Displays of positive feedback alone, whilst encouraging to see, don’t suggest how patient input – both positive and less positive – helps services to develop. Patients like to know about the improvements that have been made. In our experience, feedback from neurodivergent patients, and those with learning disabilities, tends to focus on clinical settings – what helps and what could be improved.
6. Healthwatch Liverpool can supply some #CheckWIthMeFirst cards to be available for use by patients who have experienced sexual trauma which makes dental treatment difficult for them. We recommend that this should be accompanied by the provision of staff training on trauma informed care and how to appropriately support survivors attending for appointments e.g. https://learninghub.nhs.uk/Resource/39776/Item or https://thesurvivorstrust.org/training/sign-up-for-the-workshops/

A thorough response from Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is included at the end of the report.