Janine
Healthwatch Leeds, based at The Old Fire Station in Gipton, is celebrating their 10th anniversary and is pleased to say a big thank you to everyone involved.
Healthwatch is a local organisation that invites Leeds citizens to express their views concerning reviewing the city’s health organisations. This can range from problems with hospitals, GPs, and care homes to dental care. They do a lot of work in the community to reach economically disadvantaged areas and raise awareness of the shortfalls in healthcare services across the city.
Every local authority in the country has it’s own Healthwatch, part of the Health and Care Act 2012. Their remit is to listen to people’s experiences of health and care and to feed this back to the heads of healthcare services in an attempt to improve the quality of service people receive.
In Leeds especially there are massive health inequalities, and we have some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. Some people are unable to access the appropriate healthcare they need due to financial barriers; people are often forced to go private due to long waiting times and few available appointments. But this isn’t an option for most people living in disadvantaged or underserved areas. Healthwatch offers a voice for people to share their views on their local healthcare through surveys and by connecting with the local people. Social-economic factors have a massive effect on people’s physical and mental health.
Currently, there are huge waiting lists for people who want to access treatment for mental health, especially for younger people, and this may get worse due to the current financial climate. This is due to an increase in individuals who suffer from mental health difficulties; over the past three years this has risen by 50%. It is now estimated that 6 out of 30 pupils will suffer from mental health problems.
Healthwatch wants to reduce those inequalities by ensuring everyone has their say. They can offer help with phone appointments, online appointments or face-to-face appointments.
Information & advice service
Healthwatch Leeds provides an information service to help people understand and access health and care services in the Leeds area. We also capture people’s experiences in order to help to improve local services. Our trained staff can help you to:
- Find out about health and care services near to you
- How to access the support and advice you need
- What to do if you have a concern or complaint
- Share feedback with us about services. This helps us see the bigger picture so that we can better influence changes in services.
The information service is open on weekdays from 9am to 4pm. You can contact them on 0113 8980035 or email: info@healthwatchleeds.co.uk
healthtwatchleeds.co.uk
What does Healthwatch offer?
Healthwatch is hosting its 10th anniversary on the 1st of April, 2023, and boasts many accomplishments from the last decade. They ensure that people’s experience of health and care is on the agenda of senior decision-makers by putting people first, where the system may have overlooked the human element.
They run an information and advice line where people can phone up and ask for any information on their healthcare services, such as where to find an NHS dentist or make complaints, or general information; they have done big projects on homecare where they speak to people about their experiences, and they have successfully changed the way home care is delivered through making it more personal. They have led “the big Leeds chat” where they go to places around the city such as Leeds market and speak to people about what they like about living in Leeds and what keeps them well. They are proud to say they bring the decision makers from the big organisations out to speak to real, local people.
Healthwatch makes people’s voices heard by going out to festivals and local community groups and hosting stalls and events to amplify the voice of the local communities and to get a feel for what it’s like for the everyday person living in Leeds.
They are currently running the bereaved carer survey for individuals who have lost someone within the last 3 months, to find out what the end-of-life care was like for them in the hospital, hospice, at home or in a care home. They are attempting to find out what makes a suitable end-of-life experience, to make it as comfortable and bearable for the people involved. They want to move away from a primarily white British experience to those they know less about. Many cultures have different things they do towards the end of their life; some are less well-known than others. They hope to improve the services offered around this period and make health and care services aware of the different cultural needs of individuals. Although they don’t offer one-to-one support, they offer signposting towards various organisations in Leeds.
Healthwatch reports the information enquiry line over the past 10 years has had the following:
- 2,500 enquiries
- 30,000 people engaged with
- 20,500 hours volunteers have contributed
Healthwatch welcomes volunteers onto its programme to help support their work. They have 50 active volunteers across the city, including youth watch (ages 14-25), half under 25. Their volunteers help with engagement when it comes to going out and speaking to people.
Current Surveys
For their current survey, they want to know how people have found booking, changing and attending appointments using technology, whether that is over the phone or online. Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CheckInApptExp
Get Involved
There are many ways for people to get involved with many roles available in all departments. They couldn’t do the work they do without volunteers, so if anyone would like to sign up, please feel free to give Healthwatch Leeds a try,
Contact Craig on 0113 8980035 or email craig@healthwatchleeds.co.uk
Suppose people want to contact Healthwatch for help and advice on healthcare issues or just feedback on their experiences. In that case, they can get in touch via email at info@healthwatchleeds.co.uk, phone at 0113 8980035 or via the website at https://healthwatchleeds.co.uk/advice-and-info.
