Agenda item

To receive an update on the work of Healthwatch North Tyneside and highlight the key issues local people have been raising with Healthwatch. 

The Board received a report from Healthwatch North Tyneside setting out the work it had undertaken and highlighting the key issues local people had raised with Healthwatch. The report highlighted the following areas of work:

a)     two new mental health resources had been produced: a “help yourself” leaflet produced by young people to identify the services that they used and they found helpful and a leaflet for people needing mental health support providing details of the services that people can self-refer to get the support they need.

b)     gathering the views of service users and their families and carers to better understand older people’s experience of memory and mental health services.

c)     progress had been made in responding to the recommended actions set out in the Supporting People in Crisis report published in November 2018,

d)     an 18 month research project was underway to get a better understanding of what local people do when they feel ill. This topic had been chosen as people were confused about where to go to get the care they need.

e)     a report with recommendations had recently been published based on the views of people in the waiting areas of the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.

f)      an issue focused paper had been produced based on local people’s experiences of people who have had a stroke and their carers. The paper made six key recommendations; and

g)     Healthwatch had arranged focus groups across England to establish how the NHS Long Term Plan should be implemented locally. Healthwatch North Tyneside’s engagement had fed into a regional report and a more detailed version of this report which focused on the views of North Tyneside residents had been shared with the CCG.

There were a number of emerging issues arising from Healthwatch’s work including transport to health and social care services, issues with the electronic prescription system, dissatisfaction with the support available for hearing loss and the need to better coordinate the different engagement activities around health and social care issues.

Partners welcomed the report and the useful feedback Healthwatch provided. This information was useful to organisations when matched with their own performance data to enrich their understanding of user’s experiences and help formulate future actions plans. 

The Board considered the availability of sign language interpretation services and initiatives to equip healthcare staff with basic sign language skills. The Board also explored in more detail the specific difficulties experienced by users of the electronic prescription system.

Members discussed the need to better understand the transport difficulties encountered by service users, the scale of these problems and the impact on services, for example users missing their appointments. It was stated that 80% of healthcare appointments were within the primary care sector and if services were closer to home they would be more accessible. The Board agreed that improvements to the transport system were beyond its remit but members recognised that transport to employment, leisure and culture was an important contributory factor in determining the health and wellbeing of the population. It was therefore suggested that the matter be raised by the Chair in her regular report to the North Tyneside Strategic Partnership.

Resolved that (1) the work undertaken by Healthwatch North Tyneside as described in the report be endorsed and shared within partner organisations;

(2) the new mental health resources be promoted by the Board and partners be asked to consider the funding of future print runs;

(3) the work to better understand what people in North Tyneside do when they feel ill be noted;

(4) the recommendations included in the emergency care report be noted and partners be encouraged to work together to address the issues raised;

(5) the recommendations included in the Stroke issues paper be noted and   members be encouraged to work together to address the issues raised;

(6) the emerging issues be noted and all members be encouraged to work together to better coordinate service user and community engagement so as to maximise opportunities for people’s voices to be heard in decision making processes;

(7) Healthwatch North Tyneside’s new information and annual survey campaigns be promoted to service users and staff teams; and

(8) the Chair of the Board refer the emerging issues in relation to transport with the North Tyneside Strategic Partnership.