Celebrating ten years of people speaking up to make care better
On 1 April 2013, Healthwatch was launched with one simple aim, to make sure NHS leaders and other decision-makers hear the care experiences of people in England and use your feedback to improve support.
Over the last decade, thousands of people have shared their stories with Healthwatch Haringey, and millions through the local Healthwatch network, telling us what's working and what isn't regarding health and social care. With the help of people in Haringey, we've been able to help improve local health and social care services.
To mark this important milestone, we are celebrating the contribution of our Healthwatch Heroes - the members of the public who have spoken up about their care and the health and social care professionals who have acted on this feedback.
Healthwatch Heroes
People like Sarah, Aisha and Ola, who contacted us to highlight serious gaps in GP availability and resourcing, and the lack of GP provision in the Tottenham Hale area, helped us to improve GP services. We brought the experience of these residents to the attention of NHS England, Haringey CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) and Haringey Council, highlighting the issues in a report which led to the commissioning of a brand new GP surgery in Hale Village, Tottenham Hale, N17. Our follow up report, which took a wider look at GP provision across Haringey in the light of redevelopment and new build homes, instigated a new NHS Primary Care Plan for Haringey.
Thanks to Sarah, Aisha and Ola raising their concerns, Haringey CCG was provided with funding to commission GP care hubs across Haringey. These ‘hubs’ are located in four GP practices in Haringey and have allowed more patients to see a GP, Nurse or Healthcare Assistant at weekends and in the evenings.
Further funding from NHS England’s Estates and Technology Transformation Fund was provided for three new purpose built GP health centre buildings.
Volunteering Hero
Chris Goodyear, is Healthwatch Haringey's longest serving volunteer having been with us from the offset.
The launch of Healthwatch Haringey coincided with Chris' retirement. Chris wanted to make good use of her time and to make a difference locally, and Healthwatch felt like the right fit.
Chris has been involved in every aspect of the work we do in Haringey, from Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE) in our local hospital Trusts, to running community engagement stalls and visiting GP practices to carry out mystery shopping. Chris has helped us to bring about positive change.
Chris said: "The thing that stands out most from the last 10 years is seeing real improvement in local services. Patients can have their say and their voices do make a difference. To see the suggestions we put forward implemented is really satisfying."
The difference you have made
The evidence provided by people's experiences has helped improve NHS and social care services nationally and locally.
For example, last year the Healthwatch network supported more than two million people to have their say on care and get the right advice.
Here are just some of the ways people helped make a difference in 2021-22:
- Healthwatch research exploring vaccine confidence with people from different backgrounds provided vital lessons for public health campaigns.
- Public feedback helped highlight the negative impact poor NHS admin can have and recommended five principles for services to improve people's experiences.
- The Government updated national hospital discharge guidance to put patient safety first, thanks to the views of patients and carers.
- NHS England announced improvements to non-emergency patient transport services thanks to public feedback.
- After Healthwatch and other organisations called for an urgent response to hospital waiting lists, and better interim communication and support, the NHS set out a recovery plan to address the backlog.
- Healthwatch uncovered that only a third of NHS Trusts fully comply with their duty to help patients with sensory impairments and learning disabilities, which has helped lead to a national review of the Accessible Information Standard.
The thing that stands out most from the last 10 years is seeing real improvement in local services. Patients can have their say and their voices do make a difference.
Commenting on the anniversary, our Chair Sharon Grant OBE said:
"Our job is to ensure that the voice of patients is heard by those who make decisions or provide both health care and social care – and to press for change on their behalf. In Haringey we have met this challenge in various ways over the past 10 years, but especially by looking at the evidence of inequality in our borough.
We were pleased with the prospect of fairer access to GPs for people in Tottenham. The new surgery made a huge difference to thousands of patients who previously faced lengthy waits to see a GP. More widely, the introduction of out of hours GP hubs, and the new health centres also brought about a level of improved access to primary care services.
However, as we emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that access to care was a far more generalised problem that it has ever been, and this was nowhere more evident than in the difficulties widely experienced locally in accessing primary care. We continued our work to strengthen the Patient Participation Groups (PPG’s) in borough, working closely with the Primary Care Networks in Haringey to improve the way in which their practices relate to patients."
