annual report 2015/2016 - healthwatch warrington · harnessing the views and issues evidenced in...

Healthwatch Warrington

Annual Report 2015/16

Healthwatch Warrington Annual Report 2015/16


Contents

Contents .................................................................................................. 2

Note from the Chair .................................................................................... 1

Chief Executive Officer’s Report ..................................................................... 2

The year at a glance .................................................................................... 3

About Us .................................................................................................. 4

Listening to people who use health and care services ........................................... 6

Giving people advice and information ............................................................ 12

How we have made a difference ................................................................... 14

Focus on Working with Others ...................................................................... 18

Focus on Working with Others ...................................................................... 19

Our plans for next year .............................................................................. 24

Our people .............................................................................................. 26

Our finances ............................................................................................ 28

Contact us .............................................................................................. 30


Note from the Chair

Eileen Fitzgerald - Chair

In February this year the King’s Fund

published a report calling for a single

quality improvement strategy in the NHS.

Containing 10 design principles covering

learning, leadership and co ordination,

there is one of particular interest to

Healthwatch:

“Ensure the voice of patients

and the public is sought and

heard in the design and

implementation of the

strategy”

King’s Fund Feb 2016

At Healthwatch Warrington, we take our

role as the local champion of that voice

very seriously. In this last year, our

volunteers and staff team have undertaken

an impressive body of work across a

spectrum of health and social care issues.

The team has explored current experience

of mental health services, hospitals and

domiciliary care through focussed studies;

have actively listened to over 2000 local

people through outreach and produced a

range of resources including a 40 page

Signposting Directory made available free

of charge through a variety of public

places, including libraries and GP surgeries.

It has been a pleasure to serve as Chair

during such a productive and exciting time.

I am proud that our Healthwatch was one of

the first in the country to embrace the

Healthwatch England Quality Statements

Framework and grateful to colleagues in

Warrington Borough Council, Warrington

Clinical Commissioning Group (WCCG) and

Healthwatch Wirral for providing feedback

and review as part of that process.

To be successful a Healthwatch draws upon

the knowledge, skills and enthusiasm of a

great many people. As I now stand down as

Chair, my particular thanks go to my fellow

directors, our stakeholder members, our

staff and our wonderful volunteers -

without whom it would not have been

possible to accomplish all that we have.

Helen Speed - Acting Chair

It is fitting that Healthwatch Warrington

finds itself commended in the national

Healthwatch England Awards during

Eileen’s term of office. As a steadfast

member of the Health and Wellbeing Board

Eileen has created a wealth of relationships

upon which we shall build in the coming

months. There is a lot to do in the year

ahead and I look foward to working with

colleagues and partners on the priorities for

Healthwatch Warrington during 2016-17.


Chief Executive Officer’s Report

Deborah Dalby – Chief Executive Officer

This year has been incredibly ambitious,

but equally rewarding. Having spoken to so

many local people, we have been able to

develop a really clear picture of the issues

and aspirations of patients and service

users in Warrington.

I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to

our excellent staff team and highly skilled

and committed volunteers. Many thanks

also to our dedicated Directors for their

insightful governance and strategic input.

We are a little organisation tackling big

issues and a very broad range of service

activity. It is heartening that so much work

is undertaken by partner and stakeholder

organisations to ensure truly excellent

services are maintained and improved

during times of real economic challenge.

From the feedback we have received, local

people are under no doubt that the

dedication and passion of local health and

social care workers is as evident now as it

ever has been.

We have seen areas where major

improvements can be made. Hopefully by

harnessing the views and issues evidenced

in this annual report, over the coming year,

Healthwatch Warrington will become a

byword for valuable patient and service

user insight - insight that will be received

and treasured by a local decision makers

and service providers alike.

We will be making the very most of the

intelligence that we have gathered to be

part of that picture of improvement and

service development.

Healthwatch Warrington Annual Report 2015/16 3

The year at a glance

This year, we’ve reached

over 1350

followers

on social

media

across

Twitter, Facebook and

Instagram

Our volunteers help us with

everything from community

research and

visits to services

to engagement

and outreach.

We’ve spent the

equivalent of 3 months

full time on the

5 Boroughs

Partnership MH

In-Patient Ward

Review – one of our top

2015/16 priorities

We’ve visited 21 local

services

Our reports

have

tackled

issues from

mental health support to

avoidable admissions

We’ve met nearly

3,000 people at

61 community

events

and outreach venues


About Us

Warrington borough is home to around

206,000 people in a varied landscape of

rural villages, industrial and commercial

centres.

We act as a local consumer champion.

We seek to play an integral role in the

planning of health and wellbeing services

for the people of Warrington.

We promote and support the involvement

of people to influence Health and Social

care commissioners, providers, regulators

and Healthwatch England.

We Believe

In a Health and Social Care system

provided by the state that delivers

universally high quality care to

everyone

We can make change happen through

playing our part, reflecting on our

practice and improving our

performance, to influence services to

be the best that can be

It is vital that all people are treated

with dignity, are listened to and that

all experience, whether positive or

negative, is treated as valid and acted

upon appropriately

In transparency in communications

and decision making that appreciates

the whole picture drawing upon

narrative and evidence which will

encourage people to have confidence

in our independence and impartiality.

Our Values

Initiative

Willingness to make the first move:

creating, developing and exploring how

we can best play our part and enable

others to play theirs.

Generosity

Investing our time and energy in listening

to and believing in others; in sharing and

learning together; and in how we treat

others and ourselves.

Quality Service

Our spirit of service to something greater

than ourselves keeps the main focus of

our attention outward on the people,

communities and systems we exist to

support and enhance.

Our 2015-16 Priorities

Drawing upon feedback from local people

and other sources of local intelligence,

we prioritised four headline projects:

A Whole Hospital Review

Mental Health Patient Journeys

Domiciliary Care Enquiry

Avoidable Admissions Analysis

Having established a core Enter and View

team and undertaken enhanced training

in 2014-15, we planned a significant

increase in visits and to strengthen our

collaborative practice locally with

partners and regionally with peers.


Our Team

Deborah Dalby

Chief Executive

With a personal passion for the value and

importance of the NHS, Deborah has spent

over 25 years working in the community and

voluntary sector.

Esstta Hayes

Community Engagement Officer

As a trustee and an active volunteer

herself, Esstta has direct personal

experience of the variety of ways in which

individuals can make a practical difference.

Jonathon Woodruff

Communication and Intelligence Officer

Using his background in social science

research, Jonathon designs and manages

systems to capture data, produces

intelligence reports and develops research

skills in others.

Clare Screeton

Office Co-ordinator

Alongside managing the office and financial

administration, Clare has been studying for

her AAT accountancy qualification which

will be complete in mid summer 2016.

Our Healthwatch Team (from left to right): Deborah Dalby; Esstta Hayes; Clare Screeton and

Jonathon Woodruff

Listening to people who use health and care services


Gathering experiences and

understanding people’s needs

In 2015, we strengthened our insight

gathering resources with a number of

digital developments. We now have a

Facebook App which makes it possible for

people to provide the details of their

latest experience whilst out and about.

We also introduced a QR code on a range

of our printed materials which enables

smart phone users to simply scan and

connect to our online feedback centre.

A year of reviews and the LHM

Feedback Centre

At the time of writing 38 other local

Healthwatch also use the LHM Feedback

Centre system and Healthwatch

Warrington is the 5th highest for the

greatest average monthly number of

reviews received.

Throughout 2015/16, we have worked

hard to use our new resources. Our

Signposting Directory, banners, feedback

cards and feedback centre, have acted as

prompts for conversations with local

people about care across a range of

services including hospitals, GP practices,

dentistry and mental health.

Our Engagement Officer has continued to

connect with communities and groups

through talks, presentations, events and

conversations.

We have:

Established a Young Healthwatch

group (14-25yr olds)

Worked with local luncheon clubs,

sessions and groups to talk to older

people and collect their views on

care services

Held drop in sessions for Council

staff to highlight issues and

compliments in care both in and

outside of Warrington

Undertaken outreach in high

footfall public areas like shopping

centres and bus stations.

“Young people have a right to quality

care – we need to work together to

make it happen.”

Sinead, Warrington

Feedback in numbers

Healthwatch Warrington received

a total of 757 reviews from April

2015 – March 2016

During this period, 127 individual

services received reviews

Proportionally, most of this

feedback related to GPs (around

45% of reviews), with around 30%

relating to hospitals

The full breakdown of feedback

received (by service type) is as

follows:


Star Ratings and Friends & Family Test

We adopted a user-friendly star rating system (with 5

stars being the most positive score).

The average star rating scores for this period show that

most people felt very positively about the quality of their

care, cleanliness, staff attitude and treatment

explanation.

However, ‘quality of food’ and ‘waiting time’ did not

score as highly (these aspects of service could be the

focus of our future work).

Friends and Family Test data was also collected. The reviewers were asked the question: “How

likely are you to recommend this organisation to our friends or family if they needed similar care or

treatment?” Respondents chose from the following options:

Extremely likely

Likely

Neither likely or unlikely

Unlikely

Extremely Unlikely

I don’t know

https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/fft/


Feedback showed that the majority of people (489 or 68%) were ‘extremely likely’ or

‘likely’ to recommend the local service reviewed

A smaller number of patients (60 or 8%) told us that they were ‘extremly unlikely’ or

‘unlikely’ to recommend the service being reviewed

The remaining reviewers (171 or 24%) indicated that they were ‘neither likely /

unlikely’ to recommend the service, or ‘did not know’; indicating a neutral outlook of

their experience

Sentiment Analysis & Themes

Sentiment analysis software identifies attitudes and opinions within texts and assigns positive,

negative and neutral scores. The overall sentiment outcome for this period was mostly

positive, corresponding with the star ratings above:

In addition, a number of key themes emerged:

Appointments – booking

appointments and their availability

was common theme within the

data that attracted mostly

negative sentiment. As a result,

we are looking into GP access

Staff – The data suggests that

‘staff attitude’ plays a

fundamental role in shaping

people’s experience of services

and boosts their confidence in

providing constructive feedback.

The dedication and caring attitude

of many staff was highly valued by

the majority of reviewers.

Communication – This theme

attracted a relatively high level of

negative sentiment and related to

issues such as a lack of

communication between

individuals and services.

Access to services – In particular,

long waiting times were cited as

an aspect of services that a

number of local people found to

be problematic. Consequently, our

upcoming headline project work

will focus on access as a key topic.

“757 reviews were uploaded to the

Feedback Centre from April 2015 –

March 2016”


What we’ve learnt from visiting

services

Our Enter and View (E&V) visits are

initiated as a result of direct

patient/service user comments, partner

feedback and local intelligence reports.

Throughout the year, there has been a

great deal of interest in the hospital due to

A&E ranking, financial issues and a

comprehensive maternity review.

To respond to this, we undertook a project

called “Future Fit”: A Whole Hospital

Overview.

We looked at all aspects of patient

experience in both the Warrington and

Halton sites of our hospital Trust.

From the left, Warrington Hospital

Entrance and Halton Hospital Entrance

The project team assessed what people

think of the services now and found out

how we can ensure that future changes

offer improvements and not just savings.

As part of the project we;

Undertook intensive on site

feedback collection

Ran radio adverts with Radio

General within the Hospital, to

advertise our presence and

availability for comments and

Undertook and led a comprehensive

series of 8 E&V cross-section visits

with Healthwatch Halton.

Our findings indicate that there is a

wealth of appreciation and support given

to hospital staff for the work they

undertake. Alongside this trend of public

feeling, there are administrative issues

faced by the Trust;

Parking continues to be a big issue

for patients and visitors to the site.

We will continue to monitor access

to the hospital by car.

Literature and communication are

key. We will continue to monitor

both for content and accessibility

We plan to;

Undertake a follow up visit to A&E,

especially the Clinical Decisions

Unit, to see if improvements have

been made and maintained.

Ascertain the impact on patient

experience of staffing levels, by

looking at recruitment and

retention and high dependency on

agency staff.

Over the course of the year, in addition

to carrying out E&V in hospitals, we also

visited care homes and a GP surgery.

As 2015-16 drew to a close, we

commissioned an independent survey of

providers who had been the subject of

E&V visits. We have gathered feedback

on the process and the practice of our

representatives to inform our programme

for 2016-17.


Enter and View Team

We have 24 trained E&V Authorised

Representatives;

Deborah Dalby

Clare Screeton

Esstta Hayes

Pat Taylor

Chris Upham

Mie Wall

Mike Hodgkinson

Irene Bramwell

Angela Fell

Eileen MacDonald

Cynthia Sallyuts

Catherine Bamber

Ildico Boden

Ken Harrison

Helen Speed

Jonathon Woodruff

Ruth Walkden

Gwen Lightfoot

Tania Harper

Pat Wall

Jim Sinnott

Barbara Nicholls

Linda Leadbitter

Vicki Blaylock

Clockwise from the left, Pat Taylor

Healthwatch Warrington Director and

E&V lead, Mayor Warrington, Cllr

Faisal Rashid and Ildico Boden,

Healthwatch Warrington E&V

volunteer

“Our E&V teams have

completed a tremendous

body of work in 2015-16

completing 27 visits – that’s a

five fold increase on the

previous year”

Eileen Fitzgerald, Chair, Healthwatch Warrington

Giving people advice and information


Helping people get what they need

from local health and care services

Throughout 2015/14, we have engaged

with 142 local people in one to one

meetings, such as;

A son and daughter in law came to

us for advice about mum, who is 87

and has Alzheimers but seemed to

be deteriorating. She is supported

by day centres with some care

support at home. Her psychiatrist

felt she needed full time care.

When mum was at home, she was

disorientated, angry and depressed

- though the family did everything

possible to keep mum at home,

there were safety concerns.

We enacted referreals to WIRED

Carers Centre and The Alzheimer’s

Society. We advised the family to

liaise with mum’s Social Worker to

request a re-assessment of mum's

needs and discuss the new advice

from her psychiatrist. The social

worker worked with the couple to

undertake a new assessment and

change her care plan.

A gentleman contacted us to talk

about concerns for his brother, who

is living in a care home. He

suffered a brain injury 40 years ago

and has little capacity. He felt his

brother needed more care, that his

capacity was not adequately

considered and that decisions were

not made in his best interest.

We advised him on how to speak to

the service directly, to raise his

issues and discuss his concerns. We

also showed him how to raise

Safeguarding Alerts and how to

contact the Social Care Team to

request further social care support

and a re-assessment, which he did.

A local Registered Social Landlord

(RSL) was supporting a Polish

tenant who was in need of

translation services especially for

health appointments.

We put the RSL in contact with a

Polish community volunteer to help

support the tenant and aid in

translation.

A local mum came to us looking for

information on mental health

support, on behalf of her teenage

daughter who had issues with

anxiety and stress.

We shared information and

contacts for CAMHS, the Mental

Health Assessment Team, peer

support groups and

happyoksad.co.uk.

“Thank you for your time,

help, advice and patience - it

has been very much

appreciated”.

Ms S, Client

How we have made a difference


Our reports and recommendations

This year we have produced both specific

and general intelligence reports for a

range of audiences.

Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group

has received our intelligence reports on:

Patient Experience Group Meetings

Public Feedback on GP Practices

St Joseph’s

CAMHS

Intelligence reports we submitted to the

Care Quality Commission this year

include:

CAMHS

The Walton Centre

NWAS

Christie NHS Foundation Trust

In addition to specific intelligence

reports, we also produced two general

quarterly intelligence reports which were

circulated to commissioners, CQC, CCG

and wider interested parties including

local councillors, voluntary and

community sector organisations and

members of the public.

5 Boroughs Partnership has

already started to review

its literature and written

material to ensure

consistency across services

and improve the tone and

content of information

provided.

What people say

People share their personal experience of

our work in a variety of ways including

unsolicited feedback, participating in

focussed impact surveys and returning to

us with a new issue because the support

provided the first time was effective.

In a telephone survey of 22 individuals

who have been supported on a one to one

basis in the last year, people said:

The main difference made by the

support was increasing their personal

confidence to sort the issue

themselves (17 out of 22)

The key piece of knowledge gained

was how to find where to get help (16

out of 22)

“The Team were

absolutely lovely, so

supportive.”

Survey respondent, 2016

One to one support provided also had a

positive impact on other aspects of

wellbeing including:

reducing anxiety,

increasing confidence,

feeling better able to assert personal

rights.


Involving local people in our work

Health and Wellbeing Board

To support our representative (Chair), we

bring together all of our intelligence and

feedback information to provide relevant

commentary and challenge where

appropriate.

We also have staff members and

volunteers who attend allied meetings

and networks that feed into the Health

and Wellbeing Board’s structures.

Public Consultations

Over this period, we have helped to

promote 12 local and national public

consultations.

Community Research

We have actively recruited local people

to become community researchers. These

volunteers help us with our projects by

conducting interviews and

questionnaires.

So far, we have designed and delivered

specialist training for 6 volunteers. The

induction session looked at ‘what

research is’ and discussed practical issues

around gathering data when out and

about in the community. We have even

shared our ideas for this type of training

with other local Healthwatch.

Our trained volunteers have since been

involved in our research projects, from

avoidable admissions to our whole

hospital overview.

Promoting and supporting the

involvement of local people in the

commissioning, provision and

management of local health and care

services

This year Healthwatch Warrington has

provided commissioners with intelligence

about a variety of different issues and

experiences to help them shape the

services that they commission on behalf

of local people.

Using the intelligence gained from local

people, Directors and staff team

members have been able to attend

meetings to share patient and service

user experiences to inform

procurement of dentistry services and

shaping of information sharing

protocols.

Team members have taken an active role

in a number of sub-regional strategy

meetings relating to mental health crisis

services and care home oversight that

form part of the broader commissioning

framework.

Intelligence gained and the work of the

Enter and View team in particular has

become an integral part of the quality

and safeguarding multi-disciplinary

approach in Warrington.

This works helps to shape the contract

management and monitoring of local care

providers and gives a unique dimension

from an independent patient and service

user perspective.

This intelligence then feeds into the sub-

regional structure to inform the wider

quality and safety agenda, especially for

larger contractors across a bigger

footprint.


Wherever possible, Healthwatch

Warrington makes commissioners aware

of the outcome of consultation events to

help inform future activity.

Feedback from the Quality Account

review was actually included in the

report and outline aspirations for

Warrington Borough Council, with direct

quotes and inclusions of specific issues

raised.

The main purpose of the quarterly

briefings and discussion events was to

provide local people with the information

they needed to have their say and

become more involved in the services

they receive.

These very well attended events enabled

local people to meet and discuss services

with commissioners of Medicines

Management, mental health services,

access, primary care developments and

even the cross agency wholescale

transformation agenda!

Focus on Working with Others


Focus on Working with Others

Three particular pieces of work from this

year illustrate our approach to working with

others:

Voluntary and community sector joint

work focussed on Thelwall Grange

Nursing Home

Collaboration with all local

Healthwatch across the 5 Boroughs

Partnership footprint to complete

E&V of In-patient Mental Health

Services

Partnership with Warrington Borough

Council to explore domiciliary care

Thelwall Grange Nursing Home

In November 2015 Healthwatch Warrington

undertook an E&V visit at Thelwall Grange

following reports of perceived problems

with care, safety and quality highlighted by

local councillors and the media.

During the visit the team observed staff

treating residents with respect and dignity

and also identified some areas for

improvement.

Twenty six people were resident in the

home at this point in time and a number of

whom had friends and family members in

contact with local charity Warrington Speak

Up. Warrington Speak Up is an independent

advocacy organisation which actively

promotes social inclusion, equality and

social justice.

A jointly hosted meeting between

Healthwatch Warrington and Warrington

Speak Up was held in December 2015. 25+

families, representatives, carers and more

came along. Following the Enter & View

visit, joint meeting and Enter & View

Report, recommendations made included;

“We were delighted to work

with Healthwatch

Warrington.”

Mandy Taviner, Manager, Warrington Speak Up

Notices are rationalised and in an easily

read format.

Unpleasant smelling carpets are removed

and replaced with consistent flooring.

Premises are given a deep clean and

worn/broken furniture is removed.

Broken equipment to be replaced as a

matter of urgency.

As a result of this cross-agency working, the

home has improved significantly.


Behind Closed Doors: Exploring the Quality & Safety of Care Delivered at Home

Working in partnership with Warrington

Borough Council

Domiciliary Care is both a hot topic and a

challenge to explore because of the wide

variety of services offered and range of

providers in the market place. Demand

for home care services is set to rise as

the population ages and the number of

people seeking to live independently with

long-term, multiple conditions and

therefore complex needs grows.

We set out to explore the recent

experience of local people receiving

home care through a postal survey which

was also made available online on the

websites of both the Borough Council and

Healthwatch Warrington.

All 600 people receiving home care

arranged through the council were

invited to contribute their experience

either by completing a paper based

survey for return using a supplied

FREEPOST addressed envelope or by

contacting Healthwatch to arrange for a

telephone or face to face conversation.

135 people shared their

experiences of domiciliary care

with us

People aged 80+ made up 54% of

responses with 42% aged 50-79 and the

remainder 25-49. Over two thirds or

respondents were female again pointing

to a need for some additional specialist

work to capture mens health experience.

We found out

Almost 90% of respondents have

additional support from family, friends

and/or neighbours showing that informal

caring is highly significant. Encouragingly

41% of people were satisfied and 44%

were very satisfied with their care. It was

also clear from the comments that there

is still room for improvement

“If I get the same ones on a

regular basis they are very

good, but they change every

week particularly at night

time.”

“A phone call or a text stating the time of the visit would be helpful, so that I can plan.”

Our recommendations

Our report contains seven

recommendations including:

The length of appointments should

be reviewed and carers should be

given sufficient time to spend with

each care recipient according to

need

Where possible, there should be

greater consistency regarding the

number of different carers

attending a person’s home, with

the aim of building and

maintaining positive relationships

between regular carers and

recipients.

This area of care needs further research.


5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Hospital In-Patient Wards E&V

Services are provided by the Foundation

Trust across the footprint of 5 local

Healthwatch:

Halton

Knowsley

St Helens

Warrington

Wigan

A question was raised by a commissioner

in Warrington CCG about in-patient

mental health services delivered by the

Trust, specifically about the equity of

service across the patch.

Recognising that to explore this question

was not only a very large piece of work,

but also that other boroughs may have

their own questions, we took the lead

and suggested a collaborative approach.

It took six weeks and E&V panel members

from Halton, St Helens, Warrington and

Wigan, but by the middle of February 10

visits had been completed covering

separate wards in:

Whiston Hospital

Peasley Cross

The Brooker Centre

Hollins Park

Leigh Infirmary

Alongside the 10 individual E&V reports

containing specific recommendations for

each facility, the local Healthwatch

agreed a set of 5 overarching

recommendations for universal

implementation to reduce inconsistencies

in experience for patients from different

boroughs including:

Signage commonality – using 5BP logo

/ward name to benefit patients &

visitors.

Wards up to date”Who is Who” board.

Positive cross-borough policies i.e

allowing patients takeaways on a

regular basis.

Trust review gender-specific wards to

share good practice /ensure equity of

service for male and female patients.

At the annual Healthwatch England

Awards in June 2016 this piece of

work received a certificate of

commendation for the exemplary

levels of collaboration displayed.

Having established collective working

practice through this project, the local

Healthwatch now plan to monitor patient

feedback across the service and provide

appropriate updates to the 5 Boroughs

Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to

enable progress towards greater

equity of service to be

maintained.

From Left: Deborah Dalby, (Healthwatch

Warrington), Emma Rodriguez Dos Santos

(Healthwatch St Helens, Jayne Parkinson

(Healthwatch Wigan and Susan Jago

(Healthwatch Wigan) receiving a

certificate of high commendation - photo

credit: Healthwatch England.


Mental Health Patient Journey

Many of the local people who approach us

“in crisis” relate to mental health issues –

often having gone un- recognised by

professionals and clinicians for some

considerable time. It was clear that much

work needed to be done to get a deeper

sense of how local people had been

recognised as requiring mental health

services and support, how quickly and

effectively they were referred on and the

efficacy of the eventual service or

treatment they received.

25 in depth interviews were undertaken.

As a result, we were able to analyse

services and see the impact of people

being truly listened to sharing their

stories through the interview process. It

became clear that people value some

very good services, but delays in early

referral and receptiveness of clinicians

has been an issue.

Most interestingly, those who felt that

care was not effective were less likely to

complain or raise issues about the

services they received. Through the

empathic listening approach employed by

the interviewer, confidence levels

relating to making complaints and giving

feedback was actually increased.

Our main recommendations emphasize a

requirement for greater knowledge in

primary care allied mental health issues

and services and the vital need for early

“listening” interventions.

From left: Janet Roberts undertaking a

mental health interview and discussing

patients’ rights.

Whole Hospital Review

Over the last few years, there has been a

great deal of interest in the Warrington

and Halton Hospital Trust due to A&E

ranking, financial issues and a less than

favourable maternity review.

Concerns had also been raised by a

number of local commissioners and

partner organisations about the impact of

such high profile issues. Therefore, a

large-scale review was initiated.

Intensive on site feedback collection was

undertaken and the Enter & View team

led a comprehensive series of Enter &

View cross-section visits with

Healthwatch Halton.

From this work we found that on the

whole local people were very happy and

impressed with the services delivered at

both Trust sites.

Some significant issues however did come

to the fore. Parking difficulties and the

complicated charging system were by far

the most significant issues for local

people. As a result, we will continue to

monitor access to the hospital by car and

seek to share our intelligence to shape a

new access strategy.


The wealth of information and literature

provided by various services within the

Trust was also something highlighted in

terms of consistency and value. We will

continue to monitor both content and

accessibility.

It would be most helpful to conduct

follow up visit to A&E, especially the

Clinical Decisions Unit to see if

improvements have been made and

maintained.

A high level aspiration will be to assess

the impact on patient experience of

staffing levels and approaches, including

recruitment, retention and high

dependency on agency staff. We are

hoping to undertake this in partnership

with regional colleagues from across the

North West footprint.

Clockwise from top left: Warrington Hospital entrance, Clare Screeton (Healthwatch

Warrington Office Co-ordinator), Halton Hospital entrance and the Healthwatch Warrington

stand at Warrington Hospital’s entrance.

Our plans for next year


Future priorities

In the opening months of 2016 we

witnessed, once again, rising concern

over health services and the quality of

care: strikes by junior doctors were

increasingly likely, predictions of NHS

Trusts collective deficits were hitting

£2 billion, nursing staffing shortages

continued and uncertainty over the

funding of social care was rising.

That Healthwatch has a meaningful role

to play is not in question. The question is

more subtle. Given the complexity of the

arena, local context of services and the

anxieties and interests of the people who

use those services where should we

focus?

We have four priorities for 2016-17

Increase patient and public

involvement in developing health

and social care services

Improve understanding by people

of services and systems enabling

them to exercise their rights

Strengthen public awareness of

and confidence in Healthwatch to

make voices heard

Invest in relationships with

decision makers and commissioners

Our outcomes

Changes we hope to see as a result of

focussing on these four priorities are:

Improved public and patient

experience of local services

Improved access to appropriate

health and social care services

Increased connections between

patients, users, service providers

and commissioners

Headlines for the year ahead

Exploring ‘Best’ – building on our

expanded experience of Enter and

View from 2015-16 we plan to use

local intelligence to identify

providers achieving excellence

and explore their practice to

share insights more widely.

Men’s Health – on average men

visit their GP only half as often as

women and at least 100,000 men

a year nationally die prematurely.

We plan to find out what local

men think about services and

barriers to better health.

Access to GPs has emerged from

local intelligence as a big issue

which we plan to explore

Concerns have been raised locally

about Specialist Nurse staffing.

levels - our survey will investigate

gaps and impacts on care.

“Local Healthwatch are the

eyes and ears of the

community and can help CQC

better understand how

change and service

improvement is taking place

and how it is affecting

people. Local people

understand how local care

systems really work and can

often offer advice about

solutions to entrenched local

‘system’ problems.”

Care Quality Commission and local Healthwatch – Working together in adult social care - April 2016

Our people


Decision making

Decisions about Healthwatch

Warrington activity are made in an

accountable, open and transparent

way.

Healthwatch Warrington Board of

Director meetings are held at least five

times a year, with some extraordinary

meetings held to discuss emerging issues

or plans. These meetings are advertised

on our website and local people are

welcome to come along.

This is clearly not everyone’s favourite

activity, so the Directors undertake a

number of activities to make the work of

Healthwatch Warrington more open and

accessible, particularly at the planning

and development stage.

Last year, a great deal of work was

undertaken to take into account the

views of stakeholders, patients, service

users and commissioners which helped

shape the operational plan. Work was

initiated with a stakeholder planning day

in January, which formulated the plan

using intelligence and experiences from

the previous year.

Local people were invited to all the

project planning meetings held and

updates were given at every stage - both

at quarterly briefings, stakeholder events

and consultation meetings. Open invites

were extended to a very wide range of

local people through networks and

mailing lists as well as extensive social

media coverage.

A similar process has been undertaken to

formulate next years plan.

How we involve the public and

volunteers

People with a keen interest in

Warrington and its health and social

care system are involved with the

organisation at every level.

All our directors have personal direct

experience of Warrington, either from

their home or professional lives.

Volunteers both come from within the

borough and outside linked by a shared

desire to help the system perform better

for patients and their families.

Insight and feedback from the public

provides the driving force of intelligence

which enables us to take a stand on

issues that matter. Patients and their

families contribute their experiences by:

Feedback postcards

Facebook App

Website

Twitter

Facebook company page

Telephone

Email

Letters

Visiting the office

Attendance at events

Conversation at outreach

meetings

Our finances


INCOME £

Funding received from local authority to deliver local Healthwatch statutory activities

16000.00

Additional income 1683.00

Total income 161683.00

EXPENDITURE

Operational costs 42920.00

Staffing costs 102394.00

Office costs 22926.00

Total expenditure 168240.00

Balance brought forward -6557.00

Contact us


Get in touch

Address: Healthwatch Warrington, The Gateway, 85-101 Sankey St, Warrington, WA1 1SR

Phone number: 01925 246 893

Email: [email protected]

Website URL: www.healthwatchwarrington.co.uk

Twitter: @HWWarrington

Registered office address: Healthwatch Warrington, The Gateway, 85-101 Sankey St,

Warrington, WA1 1SR

We will be making this annual report publicly available by 30th June 2016 by publishing it on

our website and circulating it to Healthwatch England, CQC, NHS England, Clinical

Commissioning Group/s, Overview and Scrutiny Committee/s, and our local authority.

We confirm that we are using the Healthwatch Trademark (which covers the logo and

Healthwatch brand) when undertaking work on our statutory activities as covered by the

licence agreement.

If you require this report in an alternative format please contact us at the address above.

© Copyright Healthwatch Warrington 2016

http://www.healthwatchwarrington.co.uk/

annual report 2015/2016 - healthwatch warrington · harnessing the views and issues evidenced in...

Documents