ECS delivery of Healthwatch Warrington receives praise from system leaders
Each year in our annual report, we summarise the impact we have had and the difference we have made to local residents’ lives in the borough, as well as reflecting on our strategic partnerships and stakeholder relationships and its always positive to receive feedback from our partners about the value Healthwatch brings.
Having recently secured a new 7 year contract to continue the delivery of Healthwatch Warrington to 2031, all of us at ECS are looking forward to building on the existing work that has been achieved, to ensure the voice of the public is strong and local people feel empowered.
ECS has delivered Healthwatch in Warrington since 2018 and the team has worked tirelessly to create strong partnerships, joint working opportunities and maximise the reach of Healthwatch through promotional activity, priority projects and community outreach.
Lydia Hughes, CEO of Healthwatch Warrington commented: “As part of our role we act on public feedback and drive change to improve services for the local community. This takes time, as we work in a complex health and social care system. Change can take place over years, and we are happy to confirm that we have been instrumental in several health and social care priorities by working as an independent organisation but also working in partnership with Place partners. We have impacts from our Children and Young People’s work, our enter and view visits and more recently our women’s health priority. Improvements around menopause training for GP services is having an ongoing impact. Healthwatch have a place on all relevant Place Boards including Integrated Care Board (ICB) Warrington Together, Primary Care Board, Health and Well being Board, Health Scrutiny, Safeguarding and Quality and Improvement. Our reports are escalated and shared with all relevant partners and providers. Healthwatch are also the SRO (Senior Responsible Officer) for Communications and engagement for Warrington Place. We work well with the other 8 Cheshire and Mersey Healthwatch areas. The nine Healthwatch Organisations are members of committees and sub-groups at the Cheshire & Merseyside (C&M) Integrated Care Board. We continue to work together to ensure the public’s voice is represented, and heard, at a C&M level and also at local Place level. The HW CEOs have over a decade-long trusted and effective relationship with each other. The HW processes, which we designed ourselves, combined with our local knowledge, has allowed us to work reactively, and proactively, to gather feedback much quicker than other sources. The data we share is primarily based on lived experience, e.g. discharge from hospital, mental health and more recently dentistry, and is a driver for change. We are also committed, and able, to support people at a time when they are at their most vulnerable and may not know about the non-clinical support they can access. We are perfectly placed, and coordinated, to respond where there are health and care service issues that relate to a provider who may cover C&M patch. For example, Care Homeowners and large organisations like Walton Neuro, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and Alder Hey. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been written, and endorsed, by all nine Healthwatch Organisations to promote openness, honesty and flexibility to allow the gathering and sharing of information between the public and the decision-makers to ensure services are provided at the right time and right place.
As a core team within Engaging Community Solutions (ECS), we are also a part of a larger network of six other ECS Healthwatch organisations covering a large area of England.”
To see this years workplan or to read more detail on recent projects carried out by Healthwatch Warrington, please visit the website here.