Reaching out to our local community
We strive to make sure we hear from as wide a range of our diverse community as possible. We want to tell the people who make decisions and change things about the experiences everyone has with health and care services.
We understand that factors such as culture, location, wealth, education, environment and discrimination can lead to worse health outcomes, and we support the strong consensus that this must change. At Healthwatch, we stand ready to help by doing more to amplify the voices of communities that go unheard and reduce the barriers they face.
Dental Engagement Report
Our dental engagement work involving over 675 Herefordshire residents, provided NHS England and NHS Improvement with key information on whether a new approach to commissioning was viable and the aspects of care that most mattered to them.
Our findings were highly commended by NHS England and NHS Improvement and had significant influence over the design of the procurement offer of a new dental service in Herefordshire.
GP Enhanced Access Service
We engaged with 565 local residents to identify the ways in which a GP Enhanced Access Service would best serve them. Our report evidenced what was needed in each Primary Care Network and reflected the differing needs in geographical areas.
The engagement work we did was key to informing how the specification of the service was shaped including the location of GP access hubs. The service was implemented across Herefordshire in October 2022.
The impact we made during the pandemic
Since COVID-19 has struck, it's more important than ever to support and listen.
Nationally, thanks to our network of Healthwatch we have been able to help the response to COVID-19 with rapid feedback from people who have had first-hand experience of services. We're making sure that everyone can use health services, including those that don't have the internet.
Transcript
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