How your feedback is used and what to expect
Healthwatch North Yorkshire has a legal power, "Enter and View," allowing us to visit care homes and other health or social care services to observe how they operate and talk directly to those experiencing care.
When you share your experience of a care home, we listen carefully and record what you tell us. Healthwatch North Yorkshire has a legal power called Enter and View, which means we can visit care homes, speak directly with residents, relatives, and staff, and observe what life is like.
We use your feedback, alongside what we see and hear during visits, to build a clear picture of care. We then share our findings with the care home and ask them to respond — explaining what actions they will take to improve or maintain good practice.
This means that when you speak up, your experience helps shape real changes in care homes across the county.
We also share findings with care providers, the Care Quality Commission, those who fund and provide social care (North Yorkshire Council), and Healthwatch England.
Share your views now
The Millings Care Home
We’re currently collecting feedback for this home in preparation for our visit through three confidential surveys (choose which fits you best):
Have a story to share?
Tell us your experience of any care home
We want to hear about all care homes across North Yorkshire, not just the ones we’re currently visiting. Every piece of feedback helps us build a bigger picture of what care looks like in our communities.
Whether it’s something positive you’d like to celebrate, or an issue you feel needs improving, your voice makes a difference. By sharing your experience, you help highlight good practice and shine a light on areas where change is needed.
You can share your views quickly and confidentially through a number of options:
Phone 01423 788 128
By post (no stamp required): Freepost HEALTHWATCHNORTHYORKSHIRE
Email: Hello@hwny.co.uk
Online survey: https://www.healthwatchnorthyorkshire.co.uk/have-your-say
Together, we can make sure every care home in North Yorkshire provides safe, compassionate, and high-quality care.
"When you speak up, you don’t just share your story. You give others a voice too. Every experience helps shape care that is safer, kinder, and better for everyone."
Why your feedback makes a difference
Every comment, concern, or compliment we hear has the power to spark change. Through our visits, your feedback is taken into care homes where it shines a light on what’s working well and where improvements are needed.
These visits don’t just record experiences - they lead to practical recommendations and real action from care providers.
The examples below show how speaking up has already helped improve life for residents, families, and staff across North Yorkshire.
Southlands Care Home, Harrogate (February 2025):
Healthwatch visits highlighted comprehensive training, strong leadership, and high standards of care. Reports like these encourage accountability and follow-up on improvements.
Discover more about our visit to Southlands Care Home
The Grange Care Home, Selby (July 2024):
Positive highlights included social dining spaces, prompt care responses, and creative community activities like "spa days" and themed events. Key improvements included plans for more ensuite rooms and updates to the website.
Learn more about our visit to the Grange Care Home
The Mill House (August 2023):
A new, well-equipped care facility praised for its amenities, food quality, and caring staff. Recommendations included improving signage, enhancing dementia-friendly features, and refining meal routines.
Find out more about our visit to the Mill House Care Home
What happens when you speak up
Your feedback doesn’t stop at being collected, it creates real change. Through our Enter and View programme, we take the experiences you share and turn them into action. Our trained volunteers visit care homes, meet with residents, families, and staff, and observe how services are being delivered.
These visits give us a unique, independent view of what care looks like in practice. We highlight the strengths we see - celebrating examples of kindness, innovation, and dignity in care. We also identify areas where things could improve. Every visit results in a report with clear recommendations, which providers are expected to respond to.
Over the past year, this approach has:
- Led to better communication between care homes and families, ensuring relatives feel more informed and reassured about their loved one’s care.
- Prompted changes to the environment of homes, such as clearer signage and more dementia-friendly spaces, improving daily life for residents.
- Supported the roll-out of new initiatives in rural communities, helping to reduce isolation and improve access to services where distance can often be a barrier.
“When Healthwatch visited, I felt listened to for the first time. They didn’t just take notes - they made sure something was done. Now I can see the changes in my home every day.” – Care home resident
Our latest impact report shows how voices from residents, families, and staff directly shaped these improvements. This is the power of speaking up—together, we make care safer, more compassionate, and more responsive to people’s needs.
"I was nervous about saying anything at first, but sharing my thoughts made a real difference. It feels good knowing my voice is helping to make life better for everyone here.”
