THE deadline for the Holsworthy Community Involvement Group’s (HCIG) online survey about patient needs in the town has been extended.

The survey has been live for three weeks but the Holsworthy Community Involvement Group (HCIG) has decided to extend the deadline, which has now been set for Wednesday, October 10, to give the public some additional time so a good spread of ages can be represented.

The survey asks people about the eight priority areas identified: Loneliness/social isolation; End of life care; Support for carers and families; Holsworthy Hospital services; Services for young people and children; Services within a person’s own home; Health information; Travel and transport.

Paper copies of the survey are available, however, the group is encouraging those with internet access to fill in the online version as collating the information will be quicker.

So far there have been more than 500 individual responses to the survey with many more expected in the coming weeks.

Geoff Cusick, vice chairman of the HCIG from Holsworthy, said it was vitally important that people had their say: “We heard from hundreds of people already but we want to hear from many more.

“We’ve had lots of feedback from older people which has been really helpful but we also want to hear from younger people too — particularly those of working age.

“Doing the survey will be ten minutes well spent helping your local community, shaping the future of health services for all of us.”

Once the surveys have been returned and analysed, more in-depth work will take place with groups in the area to better understand the issues identified.

Once it understands this, the group will make recommendations in the form of a final report to be presented to the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which is responsible for commissioning healthcare services.

Holsworthy resident Andrew Smith, also a member of the group with his wife Penny, said: “Pushing the deadline back is designed to make sure everyone who wants a say, has one.

“It will be a really worthwhile ten minutes of our time.”

To complete it online visit www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HolsworthyArea or pick up a paper copy at The White Hart public house, Holsworthy Community Hospital, Visitors Information Centre or Holsworthy Library.