Never heard of Healthwatch? Here’s how we can help
If you’ve never heard of Healthwatch North Yorkshire, you’re probably not alone.
You might come across us because you’re trying to find some information about health or social care. Perhaps something hasn’t gone well and you don’t know who to speak to. Maybe you’ve already tried to get an answer somewhere else and feel like you’re getting nowhere.
Or you might simply have had an experience of care – good or bad – that you think somebody should hear about.
That’s where we come in.
We’re here to listen – and help
Healthwatch North Yorkshire is your independent health and social care champion.
We listen to the experiences of people across North Yorkshire and make sure they’re heard by the people responsible for planning and providing health and social care.
That might be something that happened at your GP practice, hospital or dentist, your experience of mental health support or social care, or something completely different.
You don’t need to know which NHS organisation is responsible. You don’t need to understand how health and social care is structured. And you don’t need to wait until something has gone seriously wrong.
Sometimes people simply need somewhere independent to start.
Why does being independent matter?
Healthwatch was created to be an independent champion for people using health and social care.
That matters because sometimes people want to talk to someone who isn’t part of the organisation providing their care.
People come to us for all sorts of reasons. Some have struggled to get an answer elsewhere or feel they haven’t been listened to. Others aren’t sure who they need to speak to. And some simply want to share an experience – good or bad – with someone independent.
We’re separate from the NHS and North Yorkshire Council, so we can listen to what people tell us and speak openly about what we find.
Our independence means we can:
- listen to people’s experiences without being part of the organisations providing or planning their care
- raise concerns when people tell us something isn’t working
- highlight good care and things that are working well
- publish what we find and make recommendations for improvement
- take people’s experiences directly to NHS and council decision-makers
- ask what has changed as a result
Feeling lost or not sure where to turn?
Listening to people’s experiences is only part of what we do.
We also help people find reliable advice and information about health and social care and point them towards organisations that may be able to help.
People contact us for all sorts of reasons. They might be struggling to find an NHS dentist, wondering how to raise a concern, trying to understand what support is available, or simply unsure who they need to speak to.
Sometimes people come to us after trying elsewhere and not getting the response they hoped for.
We can’t investigate individual complaints or make an organisation change a decision. But we can listen, help you understand your options and point you towards information or further support.
You don’t need to understand how the NHS or social care system works before contacting us. That’s part of what we’re here for.
And what you tell us can still be important.
“Why should I tell Healthwatch? I’ve never even heard of you.”
It’s a reasonable question.
One person telling us about an experience might feel like a very small thing.
But when we hear similar experiences from people in different parts of North Yorkshire, we can start to see a bigger picture.
We bring those experiences together and share what we’re hearing with GP practices, hospitals, the NHS, North Yorkshire Council and others responsible for planning and providing care.
We ask questions. We make recommendations. We highlight where things need to improve – and where something is working particularly well.
And we follow up to find out what has happened.
Because there’s little point asking people to share their experiences if nobody does anything with what they say.
Your experiences have already helped change things
People across North Yorkshire have helped us shine a light on problems, show what good care looks like and push for improvements.
Here are just a few examples.
Making GP websites easier to use
Our volunteers looked at GP practice websites across North Yorkshire from a patient’s point of view.
We found missing information, accessibility problems and examples where important things – such as how to cancel or change an appointment – weren’t always easy to find.
We shared what we found with GP practices and the NHS.
Practices responded by making changes, including improving accessibility information, simplifying website layouts, making information clearer and improving how people find online appointments, prescriptions and other support.
Some practices went further and launched redesigned websites.
It’s a good example of something seemingly simple that can make a real difference when someone is trying to access care.
Making healthcare appointments more accessible
More than 200 people shared their experiences with us about accessing healthcare when they need additional support.
We found that 82% hadn’t been asked what support they needed, while 86% told us their needs hadn’t been recorded.
People told us about the difference relatively small adjustments can make – things such as having more time at an appointment, receiving information in an accessible format or having somewhere quieter to wait.
We took those experiences to the organisations responsible for providing and planning care and called for people to be asked what they need, for those needs to be recorded properly and for that information to be used.
We’ve since been able to highlight examples of changes happening locally.
At Millfield Surgery in Easingwold, for example, patients who need additional support can be offered things such as longer or more flexible appointments, quieter waiting areas, information in different formats and interpreter support.
Work is also taking place across the wider NHS to improve how people’s reasonable adjustment needs are recorded and shared.
Listening to farming communities
Farmers and farming families have told us about the realities of accessing healthcare while running a farm – including long hours, distance, isolation and the difficulty of fitting appointments around farming life.
We listened, brought those experiences together and shared what we heard.
That has helped encourage conversations about how healthcare can work better for farming communities.
We’ve seen examples of GP practices offering more flexible ways to access care and healthcare teams taking support into places such as livestock markets.
Our work has also helped us develop further support for farming communities, including taking mental health information and signposting directly to agricultural shows, auction marts and other places where farmers already are.
It starts by listening to people and understanding what life is actually like for them.
Helping make patient transport better
People have also told us about the difficulties they can face simply getting to healthcare.
Through our work on patient transport, people described problems including unsuitable vehicles, the cost of travel and parking, and the practical difficulties of attending multiple appointments.
We shared those experiences and recommendations with the organisations involved.
Changes and improvements have included more wheelchair-accessible vehicles, free parking for volunteer drivers, clearer information about help with travel costs, greater use of telephone appointments where appropriate and efforts to arrange care in ways that reduce unnecessary journeys.
These changes involve many organisations and factors, but people sharing their experiences helped provide evidence of where things weren’t working and what needed to be considered.
We go to where people are
We don’t just wait for people to find our website.
Our staff and volunteers speak to people in communities across North Yorkshire – at local groups, events and other places where people live, work and spend their time.
We also visit health and social care settings, carry out surveys and research, publish reports and recommendations, and speak directly to the organisations responsible for care.
We make a particular effort to hear from people and communities whose experiences can too easily be missed.
Our work has included listening to farming communities, people from ethnic minority communities, people who need additional support to access healthcare, women in midlife, unpaid carers and people living in rural and coastal communities.
Sometimes hundreds of people tell us about an issue.
Sometimes it starts with one conversation.
Both matter.
It doesn’t have to be a bad experience
Healthwatch isn’t just somewhere to come when something has gone wrong.
We want to hear what’s working too.
If a receptionist went out of their way to help you, a nurse made you feel listened to, your GP practice has made it easier to get an appointment or a social care worker made a real difference to you or your family – tell us.
Positive experiences help show what people value about their care and what others could learn from.
What happens when you tell us something?
We look at what people are telling us across North Yorkshire and identify common themes, concerns and examples of good practice.
Sometimes an individual experience adds to something we’re already looking into. Sometimes it alerts us to an issue we weren’t aware of. Sometimes it helps us understand that something is working particularly well.
We can use what we hear in our conversations with the NHS, councils and other organisations, as well as in our research, reports and recommendations.
We protect people’s confidentiality when sharing feedback, and you don’t have to give us your name if you’d prefer not to.
Sharing your experience with Healthwatch won’t affect your care.
One experience can be part of something bigger
You might never need Healthwatch.
But if there comes a time when you feel lost, don’t know where to turn, want to find reliable information, or simply think somebody should hear about your experience of care, we’re here.
Every conversation helps us understand what’s really happening across North Yorkshire.
And when lots of individual experiences begin telling the same story, they can become powerful evidence for change.
Whether you’ve had great care, something could have been better, or you just need some help finding your way through health and social care, we can help you.
