What does Healthwatch Warwickshire do from day-to-day?
Our job is to get out into the community to find out what issues people are facing when they use health and social care services, in order to help improve these services.
"When someone is overwhelmed with information or has lots of decisions to make, then it’s nice to know that we can help that person to feel a little less lost."
Deborah says, "Every day we hear from people across Warwickshire about their experiences of health and care. One of my roles is to sort through this information, picking out themes, concerns or positive feedback. We then use the analysed data to help us decide who to talk to in the county that can help improve care for patients."
We listen to and compare different first-hand experiences of health and social care. We offer information and advice to help you get the support you need. We analyse people’s feedback to see what is and isn’t working. We act on feedback, remain independent and impartial, and value strong local partnerships.
Robyn says: "When people share their experiences through our website we respond with the information and advice that they need. We are dedicated to providing a good service that helps people navigate the health and social care system and enables them to help themselves. People might be surprised to learn how much time and consideration we give to their situation - but we are always aware that this is someone's life, and our support could make a real difference."
We are trusted to act on the feedback we receive, remaining independent and impartial, making your views known to those involved in the commissioning and scrutiny of health and care services.
We take the information that you provide us in the form of feedback, reports and recommendations to local decision-makers in health and care ensuring that it could or should improve local services for everyone. We sit on local boards and meetings such as the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Health and Wellbeing Boards. We escalate areas of concern based on the evidence to national organisations such as Healthwatch England, and the Care Quality Commission.
Vina says, "My job is engagement and outreach, which means on a day-to-day basis I am looking for community groups, health-specific or age groups that we can meet across Warwickshire to talk about Healthwatch and the service we provide. We attend group sessions and talk about our service, and value listening to people's experiences on using our local health and social care services. We have worked with homeless organisations, attended foodbanks, over 60's groups and dementia groups to hear about people's experiences."
