27-06-14 healthwatch doncaster annual report 2013-14

8/11/2019 27-06-14 Healthwatch Doncaster Annual Report 2013-14

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Healthwatch DoncasterAnnual Report2013/14


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ContentsIntroduction Pg 1 & 2

The First Year Pg 3

Structure and Governance Pg 4

The Board Members and Pg 4Sub Committees

Accessing Healthwatch Doncaster Pg 4

Vision, Mission and Values Pg 5

Strategic Aims Pg 6

Our Work and Performance Pg 7

Community Engagement Pg 7

Community Hubs Pg 8

Volunteers Pg 8

Advice and Signposting Pg 9 & 10

Advocacy Pg 11 & 12

Involvement in other Pg 13Committees/Groups

Finance Pg 14

Future Plans and Challenges Pg 14 and 15

Closing Statement Pg 15

Acknowledgements Pg 15

Publicity Pg 15

AnnualReport

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Introduction

AnnualReport

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Healthwatch Doncaster

The Government created Healthwatchthrough the Health and Social Care Act(2012). This Act paved the way for a

national body - Healthwatch Englandand required that each local councilwith social care responsibilities, usinginitial funding from central government,establish a Local Healthwatch from April2013.

Healthwatch Doncaster was establishedin April 2013, as one of 152 localHealthwatch organisations.

Board members were appointed in June2013. During our first year, there hasbeen a change of support organisationand two changes of Board Chair.

We are based at Duke Street, Doncasterwhich is our business office and alsoserves as a drop-in centre for the public.

Healthwatch Doncaster aims to givecitizens and communities a strongervoice to influence and challenge how

health and social care services areprovided within their local area bygathering health and social care serviceuser experiences (both good and bad)and feeding the information back tocommissioners to help shape futureservice provision.

We also have a responsibility to provideor signpost people to information to

help them make choices about healthand care services.

Healthwatch Doncaster:-

Has a seat on the statutory Healthand Wellbeing Board, ensuringthat the views and experiences ofpatients, carers and other serviceusers are taken into account whenlocal needs assessments andstrategies are prepared, such asthe Joint Strategic NeedsAssessment (JSNA) and the re-authorisation of ClinicalCommissioning Groups


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Introduction

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Enables people to share theirviews and concerns about theirlocal health and social careservices and understands thattheir contribution will help build apicture of where services aredoing well and where they can beimproved

Alerts Healthwatch England, or theCare Quality Commission (CQC)and/or council scrutinycommittees, where appropriate,to concerns about specific careproviders, health or social carematters

Provides people with informationabout their choices and what to dowhen things go wrong

Signposts people to informationabout local health and social careservices and how to access them

Gives authoritative, evidence-

based feedback to organisationsresponsible for commissioning ordelivering local health and socialcare services

Can help and support ClinicalCommissioning Groups and councilsocial care departments to makesure that services really aredesigned to meet citizens needs

Should be inclusive and reflect thediversity of the community itserves

Healthwatch Doncaster is the localHealthwatch for the Borough ofDoncaster. One year on fromestablishment, we have set up the staffand Board of Directors and are workingtowards each of its statutory duties.

This Annual Report gives a detailedaccount of how we have fulfilled ourresponsibilities during the past year.


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The First YearAnnualReport

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The Journey So Far.....


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2013/14The First Year

Structure and Governance ofHealthwatch Doncaster

The administrative support forHealthwatch Doncaster is currentlyprovided by the Carers Federation.They employ the office staff and

outreach workers and support the Boardwhich consists of 7 Board members andan Interim Chairperson. These are:

Supporting the Board and the newlyappointed Executive Committee are anumber of sub committees who takelead responsibility for finance, businessdevelopment, governance, communityengagement, enter and view andadvocacy service.

Importantly, all our volunteers play avital part in the delivery and governanceof the organisation and its aims.

Accessing Healthwatch Doncaster

The Head Office and Drop-in centre isbased on 36 Duke Street, Doncaster,DN1 3EA and is open from 9am to 5pmMonday to Friday. This enables thepublic to call in or telephone andreceive advice and guidance on localhealth and social care services or issuesof concern. A website has been createdto enable quick access to informationand wider publication of events andnews that affects the health and socialcare of the people of Doncaster. Wecan be contacted by one of thefollowing:

Telephone 01302 378935

to speak to a member of the support team

Freephone 0808 8010391for advocacy and signposting support

[email protected]

Websitewww.healthwatchdoncaster.org.ukfor information about news and events

The First YearAnnualReport

2013/14

Piotr Kay Arnold Debbie

Adamczyk Kirk Ntiege Osborne

Interim Chair Ayodele Ann John

Sheila Barnes Adenekan Gilbert Burke
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk/http://www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk/http://www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]


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Vision Mission and Values

The Board wishes to make a publicstatement about how it sees its roleserving the people of Doncaster. Thefollowing statements are our

commitment to the people of Doncaster.

Vision

Citizens of Doncaster will be able tohave their views of health and socialcare services heard by those who design,commission, deliver and monitorservices locally and nationally, and havedirect access to person centredinformation and advice to help navigate

their way through the health and socialcare landscape.

Mission

To work collaboratively with everyone inDoncaster to improve the quality oflocal health and social care services.

Values

Healthwatch Doncaster will be a strong,

independent voice and consumerchampion for the citizens of Doncaster.

Innovation

Healthwatch Doncaster will strive to becreative and original in its work.

Quality

Healthwatch Doncaster is committed topromoting best practice and ensuringquality in all areas of performance.

Diversity

Healthwatch Doncaster embraces,encourages and celebrates diversity andstrives to be inclusive in all aspects ofits work.

People

Healthwatch Doncaster will support itsstaff and volunteers to help themdevelop and grow.


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Strategic Aims

Healthwatch Doncasters commitmentto all communities in Doncaster is:

To be an independent not for profit

local organisation

To be the public voice for health and

social care services in Doncaster

To engage with all communities in

Doncaster

To seek to influence the

development, delivery and

implementation of local health and

social care services

To support people to be involved

and contribute to the work of

Healthwatch Doncaster

To support people to make a

complaint about their treatment or

care from local NHS services

To provide comprehensive, accurate

information and advice to the public

to enable them to make effective

choices and decisions when

accessing local health and social

care services


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Our Work and Performance

Community Engagement

This is a key platform for HealthwatchDoncaster to link with the communityand to receive feedback on the issuesand concerns of the population linked tohealth and social care.

Over the year we have hosted two majorevents:

Meet Healthwatch Doncaster

In September 2013, 42 people attendedour launch event at the DoncasterTrades and Labour Club where, througha series of workshops, we were able todiscuss how people wanted to beengaged with us in the future and also

to discover any issues of concern linkedto health and social care services.

The issues raised have helped to frameour future strategy of engagement andinvolvement with the people ofDoncaster.

What Matters to You About SocialCare?

In January 2014 we hosted an event atThe Lakeside Community Church todiscuss the proposals about future socialcare in Doncaster.

The event was a joint venture withDoncaster Metropolitan Borough Councilto help them determine the issues thatwere important to the users of socialcare in Doncaster.

It was attended by 89 people.

The results of the consultation were fedback to Doncaster Council.

We have also worked with otherpartners, attending events to increaseawareness of Healthwatch Doncaster

and its role in the community.

We continue to work in partnership withother organisations in Doncaster andduring the year have delivered 28awareness raising events and attended30 events held by other organisationsacross the borough such as:

Stroke AwarenessDisability Awareness Day

Cancer GroupsCarers Rights DayLocal Community Events


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Community Hubs

Healthwatch Doncaster is present inLocal Healthwatch DoncasterCommunity Hubs, where people candrop in and see us.

We have held fortnightly CommunityHubs at:

Bawtry Community LibraryBentley LibraryMartinwells Centre, EdlingtonVermuyden Centre, Thorne

These Local Healthwatch DoncasterCommunity Hubs will continuethroughout the coming year and ourdates of attendance will be displayed at

the hubs and on our website.

We have a membership of approximately900. Over 200 new members have beenrecruited during the last year with 600plus inherited as part of the legacy ofDoncaster LINk.

Our membership is important to us as itenables us to quickly make contact withnews about activities and events being

held by Healthwatch Doncaster andother organisations.

Importantly, our members become adirect point of contact for us when weneed a response to requests made to usby other organisations and in gatheringhealth and social care service userexperiences.

Volunteers

Healthwatch Doncaster could not beeffective without the hard work of ourvolunteers. Currently we have 8 Boardmember and 7 HealthwatchAmbassadors. We have 6 volunteers

who are members of the CommunityEngagement Group and 3 who aremembers of the Information andPublicity Group.

We ensure that we support ourvolunteers by use of an inductionprogramme and pack and by providingextensive training.

Volunteers are trained in Enter andView. Enter and View is a crucial part

of our work, and involves our volunteersvisiting any NHS organisation orcontracted care home to establish goodpractice or to raise awareness of areasthat do not meet quality standards orhave been identified as unsafepractices.

These reports can form part ofsubmissions not only to the organisationsinvolved but also to the Care Quality

Commission.

We hold regular themed coffee morningsto enable members of the public tomeet informally, talk with each otherand to share their experiences.


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Advice and Signposting

This major area of our work gives directhelp to people who contact us bydropping in at our head office in DukeStreet, by telephone or by email.

This service means we can give directadvice to enable people to contact the

right person or organisation to supportthem with their concern, or we canredirect them to our Advocacy Servicewho can support them through a NHScomplaint procedure.

Over the year we have dealt with 647signposting activities.

Breakdown of mode:

398 Telephone

234 In Person14 Email1 Post

Breakdown of top 5:

190 Dentistry issues174 Information and Advice84 Advocacy Service29 GP/Health Surgery Queries27 Register with the NHS

The following case studies highlight howwe support people who contact us withconcerns.

Case Study 1

BackgroundThe client called to talk about theproblems they had encountered trying

to get a referral from the Doctor atBassetlaw Hospital to see a

Lymphoedema nurse at Retford CareCentre, which was the preferred choiceof venue for treatment.

The relevant letters from the GP hadbeen faxed over to the Doncaster RoyalInfirmary (DRI) but the client was sure aLymphoedema nurse was not based atthe hospital.

The GP said the administrationdepartment would sort it all out butthat did not happen. The client wasfrustrated by the lack of detail providedon the nearest location of aLymphoedema nurse, and even tried to

make direct contact with theLymphoedema nurse, but withoutsuccess.

This left the client very frustrated atthe long delay in getting an appointmentbut also the lack of communication ingetting the referral to the nursearranged.

From the time of first speaking to theGPs secretary, it took 20 weeks to getan appointment with the Lymphoedemanurse.

Reason for ContactThe lady client wished to know wherethe most convenient care centre was tosee a Lymphoedema nurse. Other thanbeing informed it was St Johns


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Information Centre, Bassetlaw Hospitalno specific contact information wasgiven.

How We HelpedOur Signposting and Information Officerresearched the details of St. Johns forthe client, making sure there was a

Lymphoedema service. The relevantdetails and information were sent to theclient by e-mail.

FeedbackThe client replied, confirming a callfrom the Lymphoedema nurse at RetfordCare Centre had been received and anappointment had been made for thatsame week. The client contacted us by

email expressing appreciation for theSignposting and Information Officersquick response to the query.

Case Study 2

BackgroundThe clients partner had been movedinto a care home situated out of townafter suffering from a stroke. The

concern was not being able to afford thetrain tickets, making visiting her partnervery difficult due to travel costs.

Reason for ContactThe client wanted to know if she waseligible for support with travel costs.

What We DidOur Signposting and Information officer

researched for any potential travelschemes that might be of help. It

seemed that support with travel costswas not available.

However, information and leaflets aboutthe Stroke Association and otherrelevant stroke support groups whomight be able to offer some advice weregiven to the client.

FeedbackThe lady left visibly thankful for theinformation provided.

Case Study 3

BackgroundThe client attended HealthwatchDoncaster and was both visibly agitated

and in a serious amount of dental pain.

Because the 8-8 surgery had beenunable to offer a dental appointmentthe client felt the service received hadbeen unsatisfactory.

Reason for ContactTo make a complaint against the 8-8Surgery.

What We DidA call was made to the surgery on behalfof the client and the situation wasexplained. An appointment for thefollowing day was arranged.

FeedbackThe client was delighted, relieved andvery thankful.


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Advocacy - Independent NHSHealth Complaints Service

Part of Healthwatch Doncasters roleisto show how influential it has been inbringing about effective changes toHealth and Social Care services as a

result of evidence gathering and publicfeedback.

One of the ways it will do this is byoffering a free, confidential, impartialIndependent Health Complaint AdvocacyService.

What is Healthwatch DoncastersIndependent Health ComplaintAdvocacy Service?

Most of us use the NHS at some point inour lives, and many of us use theseservices regularly. Whilst the NHSworks hard to make sure that peopleare satisfied with the services,unfortunately sometimes things do gowrong.

The NHS complaints procedure is inplace to make sure that issues areresolved at a local level, but on someoccasions it is recognised that someonemight need support to make acomplaint. Our advocacy service isthere to work with you to ensure youunderstand your options and help youto achieve the outcome you are

seeking.

For those who wish to deal with theircomplaint themselves, HealthwatchDoncaster, supported by the CarersFederation, has produced a Self HelpInformation Pack (SHIP) which aims to

help our clients feel confident aboutraising their concerns.

The self help pack explains the differentoptions for raising your concerns aboutthe NHS and offers you practical tipsand things for you to think about whenraising your complaint.

During the past year the Independent

Heath Complaints Advocacy service has:

Provided advocacy support to 113people who wanted to raise aformal compliant through the NHScomplaint procedure

To date 90 cases have beenclosedand marked as resolved and 23cases are still currently receiving

advocacy support


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Achievements

Following complaints which have beenraised through the NHS complaintprocedure, changes in practice havebeen made at GP surgeries and NHSTrusts. This has led to serviceimprovement and improved patientsatisfaction.

We have received positive feedbackfrom those we have supported as can beseen from the comments below:

The following case study shows how wehave supported one of our clients.

Case Study

Client A contacted HealthwatchDoncaster Independent HealthComplaints Advocacy Service (ICA) toraise a complaint against a NHS Trusthospital. With support, a letter ofcomplaint was produced and sent to theTrust.

A response from the hospital wasreceived which unfortunately raisedmore questions than answers and led toa request for a face-to-face meeting,where the client could raise theconcerns directly to the medical staffinvolved.

The outcome of meeting was the clientreceived an explanation, an apology andfailings in care and treatment admitted.Changes in practices were agreed toensure service improvement.

Permission was asked for and grantedfor a learning module to be devised bythe hospital for all new nurses tocomplete as part of their inductionhighlighting client As story.

Without the invaluable support of

Healthwatch Doncaster, I would not haveknown how to even begin to get the answers

I am seeking to improve things for other

families

Quote from Lynn Jones

I had a disagreement with my doctors.After trying to contact the Practice Manager

for a day and a half with no success, I called

Healthwatch Doncaster for assistance. The

lady I spoke to was wonderful, polite,

helpful and understanding. She arranged to

send information to my computer, which was

done very quickly. Immediately after the

phone call, the Practice Manager finally

called, then the doctor himself and things

were finally sorted out. It is reassuring to

know we have someone to help

Quote Derek L French


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Involvement in OtherCommittees/Groups

Healthwatch Doncaster works with manyother committees and groups acrossDoncaster with Board members,volunteers or support team attending.

These include:

Health and Wellbeing Board

DMBC HWB Board Officers Support

Group

NHS Doncaster CCG Governing Body

NHS Doncaster CCG Engagement &

Experience Committee

Mental Health Alliance Board

Childrens Trust Board Regional Healthwatch Lead Officers

Group

Quality Surveillance Group

Yorkshire Ambulance Service

Stronger Communities Engagement

Task & Finish Group

Rotherham Doncaster & South

Humber NHS Foundation Trust

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals

NHS Foundation Trust

South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Patient

Experience Forum

Learning Disability & Autism

Partnership Board

Learning Disability Partnership Board

Health Sub Group

Doncaster Mencap

DRI Patient Experience Group

Carers Forum

DMBC Adults & Communities

Engagement Group

Disability Cluster group

Doncaster Carers Forum

NHS Complaints Advocacy Forum

Inclusion & Fairness Advancement

Group

We also work with Healthwatch England,the Care Quality Commission and NHSEngland.

Other Areas of Involvement ofHealthwatch Doncaster

We have taken part in the Doncaster &Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS FoundationTrust Place Assessment process and withthe Modernisation Strategy for AdultSocial care in Doncaster. We areworking with DMBC to obtain anindependent response to thedevelopment and use of the Better Care

Fund and have completed research onthe development and refreshing of theDoncaster Physical Disability andSensory Impairment (PDSI) Strategy.


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Finance

Future Plans and Challenges

Over the next year we seek to:

Increase our membership across

Doncaster Recruit active volunteers

(Healthwatch Ambassadors) to take

up the essential work that needs to

be undertaken in all our areas of

work

Be the service users voice in all

aspects of health and social care

Engage as widely as possible with all

communities in Doncaster Working

in close partnership with other

organisations, especially in the

voluntary and community sector, so

that together we can capture the

voice of local people and provide a

greater influence on the shape of

local services

Engage in research on behalf of

clients and partners to give an

independent voice to such proposals

as the Development of the Carers

Strategy for Doncaster which is to be

implemented in the near future

The Carers Federation took over the responsibilities of host organisation in

November 2013. The budget below reflects this and runs from November 2013

March 2014:

Healthwatch Doncaster Budget 2013/14Income

Core Contract 143,174

Total Income 143,174

Expenditure

Management and Staff Salaries 64,227

Accommodation and Equipment Costs 40,262

Running Costs 2,310

Healthwatch Work Streams(Marketing Campaigns) 15,386

Total Expenditure 122,190

Efficiency saving returned to DMBC 20,984


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Organise further Enter and View

training sessions for our Healthwatch

Ambassadors, to give them support

and confidence to undertake this

vital task, along with any other

identified training

Closing Statement

We still face many challenges.

We will be further developing our

Executive Board, along with our newly

appointed Executive Committee and

looking at co-options to support the

Board and Executive Committee in itswork.

Healthwatch Doncaster has come

through a challenging year but remains

optimistic and encouraged that we can

build on our first years work on behalf

of local people.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the Carers Federation who

have supported Healthwatch Doncaster

from 1stNovember 2013; helping to

develop our future strategy and

structure. We also wish to thank the

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council

for their continued support through acritical time in the early stages of

Healthwatch Doncasters development.

We would particularly like to place on

record, our appreciation of the work of

our former Chairperson Janet

Greenwood, whose professionalism and

commitment to Healthwatch Doncaster,

took us through a very difficult time.

Publicity

This annual report is published and

made available on the Healthwatch

Doncaster website:

www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk

It is available in hard copy on request by

contacting the support team. Copiesalso available at local libraries and

community hubs across Doncaster.

The Healthwatch Brand Healthwatch

Doncaster is licensed to use the

Healthwatch trademark (which covers

the logo and Healthwatch brand) as per

our license with Healthwatch England

and the Care Quality Commission.
http://www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk/http://www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk/http://www.healthwatchdoncaster.org.uk/


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