Report underlines need to improve patient experience and access to mental health services

The report, which draws on feedback from patients, family, carers and mental health professionals, gathered via a survey and during a visit to Penn Hospital, provides key recommendations to improve service provision and patient experience.

Growing demand for mental health services

In 2024, the proportion of feedback we received about mental health services continued to increase and an increasing number of residents are seeking support and signposting for mental health care. People’s concerns range from difficulties accessing support through GPs and community services, lack of patient information, and issues with care provision at Penn Hospital.

The Wolverhampton Adult Mental Health Needs Assessment 2023 estimates that by 2025, over 30,500 adults in the city will experience a common mental health disorder, highlighting the urgent need for high-quality, accessible services.

Key findings

Our report identifies three major themes based on public feedback:

• Limited choice of support – Many residents struggle to access timely mental health care and are often passed between services without clear direction or support.
• Lack of empathy from some healthcare professionals – Patients reported negative experiences due to perceived indifference and poor attitudes from some staff.
• Poor communication – Many service users felt uninformed about their treatment options and lacked opportunities to engage in decision-making about their care.

Recommendations for change

We set out several recommendations in the report to improve people’s access to and experience of mental health services and we are very pleased to see that the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHFT) has already made improvements such as taking onboard our feedback to improve the activities area.

A call for action

Commenting on the report, Stacey Lewis, Manager of Healthwatch Wolverhampton, said: “This report amplifies the voices of Wolverhampton residents who have struggled to access the mental health care they need. We recognised that many people do get the help they need and that there is excellent work taking place through the One Wolverhampton partnership but we hope that our recommendations will be taken on board by decision-makers to bring about meaningful improvements in local mental health services and support so that everyone can get the help they need. We will continue to monitor progress and do all we can to influence positive change.”

We have shared the report findings with the BCHFT to inform their development and improvement work.

Responding to the report, Carolyn Green, Chief Nursing Officer from the Trust said: “We are very grateful to Healthwatch Wolverhampton for their visit and feedback to the service. We were also grateful to hear the positive feedback regarding the areas that we have made progress with, when we met with the Wolverhampton Health Scrutiny Panel in March 2025.

“I would like to thank Healthwatch for undertaking your latest survey in addition to your previous work. We have shared this feedback with the services and will continue to use it to explore with our colleagues how they can continue to work sensitively and collaboratively and in equal partnership with individuals who are seeking support for their mental health conditions.

“We absolutely want to ensure that clarity is available for all people accessing our care, and this includes whether our services are accessible and regarded as compassionate.

“One of our foundation values at BCHFT is that our care is person centred. For us, this means that active involvement in collaborative decisions, promoting patient choice, and autonomy is embedded across our services as routine practice.

“We would always welcome any participants who took part in the Healthwatch survey to connect with our Service Experience Desk and I would like to offer an open invitation to any participants of the survey to join our team so we can listen, learn and improve.

“We are also very proud to have a very active Lead Experience Consultant group that has substantially increased its work with the Trust over the last year to work in a coproduced manner. If you, or someone you know, would like to join this network, or find out more about it, please contact us on bchft.getinvolved@nhs.net.”

More information

Find out more about the BCHFT coproduction standards, which outlines the Trust’s current work and future ambitions, and also feature as a core component part of their emerging clinical strategy.

Read our reports

People’s experiences of mental health services in Wolverhampton

See the detailed findings from our Enter and View visit to Penn Hospital