Nearly 5500 people shared their experiences of health and social care with Healthwatch Norfolk over the 2023-24 financial year, a new report shows.
Over 250 people also approached the organisation for advice, and it published 58 reports on various aspects of health and social care.
The figures emerged as Healthwatch Norfolk held its Annual General Meeting at Wymondham Rugby Club.
The organisation set out more details of its work, what it had discovered, and revealed its priorities for the next 12 months.
Key figures included:
- 5417 different experiences shared with Healthwatch Norfolk about health and social care services.
- 282 people approached the organisation for clear advice and information.
- 58 reports were published sharing feedback, and detailing improvements people would like to see in health and social care services.
- 14 staff and 17 volunteers carried out this work.
You can find out more about the organisation’s work by downloading its annual report here.
Some of the recommendations made by Healthwatch Norfolk over the past year include:
- Improved communication and a dedicated keyworker for young people being looked after by Norfolk Community Health and Care (NCH&C) when they transition to adult care.
- More communication and peer support for those under the care of the Long Covid service.
- Better links between pharmacies and GPs to ensure a better service for people needing medication.
- Calls for a Major Trauma Centre in Norwich providing it did not have a negative effect on hospital resources.
Other work undertaken through the year included:
- Talking to hundreds of patients, carers and staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn about their care.
- The My Views Matter project which saw Healthwatch Norfolk visit residential homes for those with learning disabilities and/or autism to talk to residents about their experiences.
- Gathering feedback from people about the care they received at Benjamin Court in Cromer.
- Worked with carers of those with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) to find out what additional support they needed.
- Forged more partnerships with care homes and food banks to increase the feedback we got, and also worked with the Governors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn to help them engage within their communities.
- Talking to people who are homeless or have no fixed abode about their experiences of accessing health care.
Alex Stewart, chief executive of Healthwatch Norfolk, said:
“We have continued our efforts to gather the richest feedback we can to share with those who are responsible for our services.
“My Views Matter has had a tremendous impact already both in terms of improvements and changes being made at some sites to ensure people are as independent as possible as well as being picked up on a local, regional, and national basis, and having a formal paper published about our work.
“Our entire team also spent a week each at three of the county’s hospitals visiting wards, clinics and departments spending time chatting to patients and their loved ones in detail to find out where things were working well and where there could be improvements. We continue to work with all three sites on the recommendations from that project.”
During the Annual General Meeting, an insight was given into some of the work due to be carried out by Healthwatch Norfolk over the next 12 months too.
This includes:
- Helping to shape the new Community Diagnostic Centres which will carry out tests and procedures at various locations.
- The recruitment and running of a Youth Council for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.
- More work on understanding how people are accessing health care digitally and if this is working for them.
- A focus on gaining more feedback from Norfolk’s younger residents.
Alex Stewart said: “We continue to undertake a wide range of different pieces of work looking at aspects of health and care collaborating with both patients and our partners across the health and care system.
“Alongside this, we will also work hard to gather lots of independent feedback from a variety of locations and we would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to share their experiences and stories with us.”
You can watch a video of the AGM which includes a recap of our work over the last 12 months below:
There is a subtitled version of the video below:
