Healthwatch Impact Award 2025 - shortlist announced

Meet the shortlist for the Healthwatch Impact Award 2025. 

The annual award celebrates the difference local people make to health and social care services by sharing their feedback with our staff and volunteers.

This year, 18 outstanding projects have been shortlisted across England. 

The winners of the 2025 Healthwatch Impact Award will be announced in March.

The shortlist includes:

1. Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham: South Asian residents now have a better understanding of what support is available and better access to social care services, as information is available in Bengali and Urdu, and closer working with places of worship and faith groups have been established to address cultural and religions concerns.
2. Healthwatch Bolton: People experiencing perimenopause and menopause can now access the support and care they need after voicing concerns about a lack of HRT information and poor attitudes of healthcare professionals. 
3. Healthwatch Brighton and Hove: Outpatients, carers, friends, and visitors to hospitals in Brighton and Hove can now expect a better welcome and communications about outpatients’ appointments after a lack of clear communication was identified as a barrier to positive patient experiences.
4. Healthwatch County Durham: Farmers' access to healthcare has improved with the introduction of a pioneering new initiative offering walk-in clinics. This means they can now attend health checks at a time that suits them.
5. Healthwatch Derbyshire: Patients, their families and carers will benefit from a significantly improved experience when leaving hospital, with better communication, clearer information, stronger coordination, and a greater focus on personalised support, following the development of an information pack and with their voices feeding directly into ongoing service improvements across all discharge pathways in Derbyshire.
6. Healthwatch Dudley: Those with additional communication needs and people without a fixed address can now access the GP services they need after speaking up about their challenges accessing care.
7. Healthwatch Gloucestershire: People with care needs and their unpaid carers have become Experts through Experience, highlighting issues around unmet needs and, directly influencing Adult Social Care services to ensure they meet the care needs of service users. 
8. Healthwatch in Sussex (Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex): A new Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS) has been built around what people wanted with improved access and information on eligibility after residents in Sussex spoke up about the challenges they faced when using the service. 
9. Healthwatch Herefordshire: People with learning disabilities have better access to vital annual health checks and vaccinations after Healthwatch and Herefordshire General Practice addressed the barriers preventing uptake.
10. Healthwatch Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton: People with additional communications needs can now access support that meets their needs after a campaign to raise awareness of the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) and efforts to educate those who need it on their rights to accessible information about their healthcare. 
11. Healthwatch Kingston Upon Hull: People experiencing homelessness how have improved access to Yorkshire Ambulance Services (YAS) after speaking up about their care needs. 
12. Healthwatch Liverpool: People with lived experiences of sexual trauma can feel more confident when booking and attending healthcare appointments thanks to feedback that’s created much-needed change in health service culture allowing them to take control of their health. 
13. Healthwatch Milton Keynes: Women using acute mental health services are more confident in their care and safety and less anxious about leaving the ward after they spoke up about staff attitudes, a lack of awareness of mental health issues and poor communication discharge.
14. Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire: People with Autism or ADHD, and their families or carers have improved the pathway to diagnosis for those waiting after sharing their concerns around diagnosis and what support is available.
15. Healthwatch North Yorkshire: Adults experiencing mental health issues can now access support that’s right for them through First Contact Mental Health Practitioners (FCMHP) in GP practices across North Yorkshire after speaking up about their experiences of accessing mental health support.
16. Healthwatch Sunderland: Improved access to GP care for Bangladeshi women after listening to their experiences of using GP appointment booking systems. Their experiences were shared with GP practices, who now understand some of the barriers this community may face and have made improvements to make it easier for them to use these systems.
17. Healthwatch Surrey: Patients and healthcare professionals in Surrey are now more aware of the importance of feedback and the difference it can make to services and overall patient experiences. 
18. Healthwatch York: Adults entering the Autism and ADHD diagnosis pathway will experience a more straightforward journey and access to better support following people's feedback about their frustrations with changes to the diagnostic pathway that made getting a diagnosis or the right support difficult.

Commenting on the news, Louise Ansari, our Chief Executive, said: 

“Getting shortlisted for this award is a huge achievement. It highlights how the views, experiences and ideas of local people are key to finding new ways to improve health and care services.”