Meet the health and social care staff who go the extra mile
Nominated by local Healthwatch from across the country, individuals and organisations have been put forward for their efforts seeking out feedback and acting on it to create services designed around people’s needs.
This award forms part of our broader #ItStartsWithYou campaign to encourage a million people to share their stories with us about their experiences of health and care and what they think needs to change. To encourage people to come forward, it is vital that the NHS and social care sector highlights areas where people’s views are already making a big difference.
Healthwatch Network NHS 70 Award Shortlist
- Helping protect vulnerable patients in Derby
Healthwatch Derby have nominated the Peartree Medical Centre, a GP surgery which serves one of the most deprived parts of Derby. During the recent harsh winter, the surgery rang and spoke to all vulnerable patients ensuring they were safe and well. They have also been working with the local hospital to provide better tailored support to diabetic patients, for example giving talks during the Ramadan period to keep diabetic patients safe. - Preventing teen suicides in Bristol
Following a series of suicides amongst local university students, Bristol GP Dr Knut Schroeder set about developing a new app to help young people dealing with mental health problems. Putting young people at the heart of the project, he developed the app with feedback from those with experience of self-harm and attempted suicide and involved them in the testing to ensure it was focused on meeting their needs. - Supporting those with learning disabilities to have their say in the Isle of Wight
Healthwatch Isle of Wight nominated Ann O’Brien, the local integrated commissioning manager for the Clinical Commissioning Group and the local council. Thanks to her efforts, local residents with learning disabilities are directly involved in the development, planning and commissioning of health and care services on the island. - Improving the wellbeing of care home residents in Kirklees
Healthwatch Kirklees have nominated Avery Mews Care Home and the Co-Operative Childcare Nursery in Dewsbury. Thanks to the collaboration of these two organisations, once a month children aged two and three visit a local care home to improve the learning, health and wellbeing of both the older people and the children. The project showcases the outstanding care and passion of local care staff in coming up with innovative ways to find projects that have social and emotional benefits for the whole community. - Helping communities shape system wide changes in Surrey
Healthwatch Surrey nominated Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership for their work involving local people in their Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP). In contrast to many other areas, Surrey Heartlands have really focused on engaging communities in their STP, involving thousands of people in in-depth research, gathering their views and expectations of local services and creating a citizens’ panel to shape the transformation programme as it progresses.
The overall winner will be announced at the Healthwatch Network annual conference in October along with the rest of the Healthwatch Network award winners.
Jane Mordue, Chair of Healthwatch England, said:
“It’s great to see so many brilliant examples of health and social care staff across the country embodying the ethos of Healthwatch, gathering feedback from their patients and working with them to design services together.
“At Healthwatch it is our job to help give people a voice in how hospitals, GP services and care homes are designed and delivered. But to transform the NHS we need people to come forward and share their experiences and ideas. Under our new strategy we aim to gather views from over a million people a year and use these to shape care.
“It’s therefore right to celebrate those shortlisted today as part of the NHS 70th Birthday celebrations and I urge other health and care professionals to follow their example and work with patients as partners to shape the next 70 years of the health service.”
