Healthwatch England Chair visits Healthwatch Walsall

Our team at Healthwatch Walsall welcomed a special guest to their public board meeting on 15 May, when Professor David Croisdale- Appleby, Chair of Healthwatch England visited. This visit marks the campaign being undertaken by Professor Croisdale-Appelby to visit as many Healthwatch as possible throughout the network.

The meeting was held at the Ryecroft Community Centre and was well attended by members of the local community. It forms part of the Healthwatch Walsall public board meeting schedule, with meetings being held in different community locations throughout Walsall to provide a local forum for members of the public to meet with Healthwatch and health and social care professionals and share their experiences and views about the services they use.

During the meeting, Professor Croisdale-Appleby gave an overview of the key issues facing the health and social care sector at a national level and heard about the concerns people have about local health services in Walsall, with GP access and the accessible information standard being some of the key topics being discussed by members of the public.

ECS Managing Director, Elizabeth Learoyd said: “We were delighted to welcome David to Healthwatch Walsall. The core role of Healthwatch is to listen to people who use health and care services and share their feedback with service providers in order to make things better, and his visit allowed local people to have their say on the things that matter to them most in Walsall and also hear about the work Healthwatch England has been doing.

“The team at Healthwatch Walsall have done some excellent work recently on their maternity project and accessible information standards project and for the Chair of Healthwatch England to hear about the vital work being undertaken by the team was hugely beneficial. We also got the opportunity to raise our concerns about the future funding of Healthwatch and ask about how Healthwatch England are working to secure the sustainability of the Healthwatch network.

Our team at Engaging Communities Solutions, delivering Healthwatch Walsall are part of an important network that will continue to champion local people.”

For more information about Healthwatch Walsall and their public board meetings and community events, please visit:  https://www.healthwatchwalsall.co.uk/events