Healthwatch 2019 Network Award Winners announced

Our network of local Healthwatch came together last night at the annual Healthwatch Network Awards to celebrate and recognise the fantastic work of the many local community champions who are helping to improve the country’s hospitals, GPs and care services.

More than 140 entries across six categories were submitted this year. From this, 29 were shortlisted across six categories and this year’s awards included a category to acknowledge the work done by local Healthwatch organisations on the NHS Long Term Plan.

Imelda Redmond CBE, National Director of Healthwatch England, said:

“The Healthwatch Network Awards is a fantastic event which showcases the very best of local Healthwatch and it’s an opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate the impact our teams and volunteers have in improving health and care across the country.

“The awards demonstrate the breadth of issues local Healthwatch work on every year. Their work makes sure people’s experiences are placed at the heart of the services they receive.

“I’d like to acknowledge and thank all the network and congratulate those who took part, they have done their communities proud.”

Giving people the advice and information they need

Winner - Healthwatch Wirral

Healthwatch Wirral developed an accredited training course, in partnership with a GP Federation, which covered 29 surgeries and over 200,000 patients in the area. The training explained the value of good signposting and has already given more than 200 staff the confidence to answer people’s questions.

Highly Commended:

• Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen, Healthwatch Blackpool, Healthwatch Cumbria and Healthwatch Lancashire (working together)
• Healthwatch Devon
• Healthwatch Hillingdon
• Healthwatch Lewisham
• Healthwatch Liverpool

Outstanding individuals who've made a difference

Winner – Healthwatch Brent volunteers Mary Evans and Margaret Oyemade

Sheltered housing schemes are designed to make life easier for older people by providing access to a range of services. Healthwatch Brent volunteers Mary Evans and Margaret Oyemade visited a local scheme and discovered that residents were feeling unsafe because of antisocial behaviour happening in the area and intruders coming into properties. Thanks to their work, several changes have been made and residents feel safer and more confident in speaking to their Housing Officer and the police.

Highly Commended:

• Healthwatch Bucks volunteer Mike Etkind
• Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire volunteer Pam Wakelam
• Healthwatch Essex volunteer Mike Champman
• Healthwatch Surrey volunteer Liz Sawyer

Helping people have their say

Winner - Healthwatch Luton

Children and young people make up one fifth of the UK’s population and yet we only receive a small amount of feedback from them. It’s important that they get the opportunity to speak out about the changes they’d like to see.

Young people in Luton wanted a place where they could have access to health and care information, so Healthwatch Luton worked with their local Clinical Commissioning Group to make this happen. Over 400 young people attended a special conference to share their experiences of NHS and social care services and to find out more about the support available to them.

Highly Commended:

• Healthwatch Northampton
• Healthwatch Southampton
• Healthwatch Leeds
• Healthwatch Sutton

Improving health and social care

Winner – Healthwatch West Berkshire 

In West Berkshire, health services were struggling to understand the unique needs of people who do not have a home, making it harder for them to access support. Healthwatch spoke to 14 homeless people, as well as the charities and bodies that support them, to build a picture of the challenges.

Healthwatch West Berkshire used the experiences shared with them to create a media campaign aimed at ending rough sleeping by 2020, seven years ahead of the Government target. This has fundamentally changed how homeless people are supported locally

Highly Commended:

• Healthwatch North Tyneside
• Healthwatch Manchester
• Healthwatch Suffolk
• Healthwatch Wakefield

Championing diversity and inclusion

Winner– Healthwatch East Sussex  

Healthwatch East Sussex helped vulnerable residents living in emergency and temporary accommodation in Newhaven to get better support after hearing about the problems they were having.

Through their work, there is now increased investment in more support staff, access to basic services that were previously absent and a greater understanding of the problems faced by people living in temporary accommodation across the local authority, health and care service borders, enabling services to work together in an integrated way.

Highly Commended:

• Healthwatch Bexley
• Healthwatch Wolverhampton
• Healthwatch Kent
• Healthwatch Lincolnshire

Outstanding achievement: NHS Long Term Plan

Winners - Healthwatch in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw

Healthwatch Barnsley, Healthwatch Doncaster, Healthwatch Nottinghamshire, Healthwatch Rotherham, Healthwatch Sheffield

Five Healthwatch have demonstrated outstanding collaboration and engagement, resulting in significant impact in their final report. Throughout the process, they worked closely with NHS colleagues whilst supporting each other via peer support.  Healthwatch Doncaster contributed to our influencing webinars for the entire Network to ensure our evidence was used effectively.

The group took a diverse approach to engagement with focus groups involving refugees and asylum seekers, sea cadets, veterans, prisoners, a mental health support group and the deaf community.

Their approach covered three key life stages and the themes of mental health, care where you live, digital, and choice and control. The team generated significant media and social media take up including a targeted Facebook campaign and radio interviews. Clear data was collected, with good demographic outline and the interpretation of data culminated in a final report that was well written, well researched and engaging. The report included clear ‘next steps’ for the STP/ICS.  

Highly Commended:

• Healthwatch Birmingham, Healthwatch Solihull
• Healthwatch in Greater Manchester - Healthwatch Bolton, Healthwatch Bury, Healthwatch Manchester, Healthwatch Oldham, Healthwatch Rochdale, Healthwatch Salford, Healthwatch Stockport, Healthwatch Tameside, Healthwatch Trafford and Healthwatch Wigan and Leigh