Healthwatch Birmingham receives highly commended recognition at national award
We are pleased to announce Healthwatch Birmingham has been recognised as highly commended in the Outstanding Achievement: NHS Long Term Plan category at the 2019 Healthwatch Network Awards.
The work done by Healthwatch Birmingham has been recognised as ‘Highly commended’ in this year’s Healthwatch Network Awards in the Outstanding Achievement: NHS Long Term Plan category.
The NHS has produced a Long Term Plan, setting out all the things it wants health services to do better for people across the country. For these plans to work, the NHS needs to shape local plans based on local needs. We asked people #WhatWouldYouDo to improve local services.
Alongside Healthwatch Solihull, we heard from 694 people about the changes they would like to see. These include:
- More control and choice over health decisions
- Better health education
- Increased support to maintain mental health
- Easier access to information, services and community groups
- Quicker and easier access to GP appointments through improved booking systems
- Better follow up and ongoing support or treatment to ensure patients are able to access treatment before they reach a crisis point.
- Fairness and distribution of services across the city
The Birmingham and Solihull Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) are taking the findings of our report into careful consideration, to ensure that local people’s needs are at the heart of any future services.
Every year, the Healthwatch Network Awards celebrate the many positive stories of how the local Healthwatch network is helping to make care better for thousands of people. The awards are an opportunity to demonstrate where local Healthwatch worked within the local community to make sure health and social care services meet people’s needs.
Healthwatch listen to what people like about the NHS and social care and what needs to be improved. Their views are shared with health and care professionals, so that services can understand what people and their families want from care.
These awards recognise how people’s feedback is vital to improving services. Thanks to the many hundreds of thousands of people who shared their experiences with Healthwatch last year. This has led to positive changes to the way local health and care services are run.
The local Healthwatch shortlisted for 2019 Healthwatch Network Awards were picked from almost 150 award entries.
The winner and the highly commended from each category were chosen by a panel of external judges and announced at the Healthwatch England Annual Conference on 1 October 2019.
Andy Cave, CEO, Healthwatch Birmingham said,
“We are delighted to receive this national recognition which demonstrates our dedication to hearing from the diverse populations of Birmingham. Our final report outlines what local people want from Birmingham services, and what will help them to take control of their own health and wellbeing. We would like to thank everyone who shared their experiences and hopes for the future as part of this project.
Our work continues to influence improvement in Health and Social care services in Birmingham. We call on the public to be more involved in shaping services for the future and ask everyone to continue to share their experiences of health and social care with us to enable our great work.
I would like to thank our staff, volunteers and stakeholders for supporting our work. Together we can truly make a difference in Birmingham.”
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.”
Ends
Notes to Editors:
About us
Healthwatch is the independent champion for people who use health and social care services. We exist to ensure that people are at the heart of care. We listen to what people like about services, and what could be improved, and we share their views with those with the power to make change happen. We also help people find the information they need about services in their area.
We have the power to ensure that people’s voices are heard by the government and those running services. As well as seeking the public’s views ourselves, we also encourage services to involve people in decisions that affect them. Our sole purpose is to help make care better for people.
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