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July-August 2015 Newsletter
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Contents Page 4 Health Action Week Our Annual Report Page 5 Healthwatch NEL is Moving Encouraging Patient Participation Page 6 Promotional Videos Partner News Page 7 Healthwatch England Annual Conference Volunteer News Page 8 Board Meeting Dates
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Health Action Week Last month saw the first ever Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire Health Action Week, a week of events and information promoting involvement in health and social care. We had some great feedback from our events, and although there were a few last minute hiccups, we are very excited about what it may lead to in the future.
We would like to thank everyone that attended, especially the speakers and funders from NBF, The Key Fund, Big Lottery, Comic Relief, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Children in Need, CERT, North East Lincolnshire CCG, North East Lincolnshire Council, and Gardiner Hill Foundation.
During the week we published articles on our website about how to get involved and have a say on your health and social care and engaged with several organisations that we had not previously worked with, opening a number of partnership opportunities for the future. By far the biggest success was our AGM and funding fair, with attendees from a variety of community organisations both directly involved with health and social care and those involved with other projects and coverage from the Grimsby Telegraph.
Chair, Mike Bateson, and partnership co-ordinator Paul Glazebook
Our Annual Report We have now published our Annual Report for the 2014-15 financial year. It has been a very eventful year for Healthwatch in which we have worked with a variety of services to review “Did Not Attend� policies, investigate continuing care assessments, and address waiting times in mental health services.
Our volunteer team has grown to 26 active volunteers, and we engaged with over 750 people at various events and drop-ins throughout the year, and our newsletter is read by over 480 people throughout North East Lincolnshire. To learn more, read the full report at healthwatchnortheastlincolnshire.co.uk
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Healthwatch NEL is moving! On 3 August, 2015 Healthwatch NEL will be moving to a new office at Enterprise Village, the E-Factor business centre near King Edward Street. Since being in our current office, we have given hundreds of people a voice on the health and social care services they use, but as our volunteer team grows and as we evolve, we feel the additional facilities at
Enterprise Village will give us the flexibility to achieve our aim of using patient voice to improve health and social care in our area. Our phone number and email addresses will not change. Our new address will be: Unit G5, Enterprise Village Prince Albert Gardens, Grimsby, DN31 3AT
Encouraging Patient Participation On 13 July, our Project Support Officer, Bayard Tarpley, delivered a brief talk to the local Patient Participation Group Chairs meeting with Jenny Hodson of VANEL in which they stressed the importance of the independence of PPGs. PPGs are groups run by patients at GP practices. They allow patients to have a say in how their surgery is run.
There is a growing number of these groups in North East Lincolnshire, and as Healthwatch’s role is to help residents have a voice when it comes to the services they use, we are eager to help residents find, join, or even start a PPG if their practice does not have one already. To learn more about Patient Participation Groups, including whether your own practice has an active group, call Bayard Tarpley at 01472 361 459.
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Promotional Videos Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire now have a series of videos explaining what we do and how you can get involved.
Each video is just over a minute long, making them a quick and easy way to tell people about the work we do.
The three videos show our work with volunteers, our enter and view programme, and our wider work within Health and Social Care.
If you would like to see these videos and share them with anyone who may be interested in the work we do or in joining our volunteer force, visit www.healthwatchnortheastlincolnshire.com.
Partner News
Alzheimer’s Society Alzheimer’s Society are currently holding drop-ins in Immingham and Scartho. These Dementia Adviser Drop-In Services run at The Roxton Practice fortnightly on Tuesdays from 1:30 pm to 4:30 p.m., and Scartho Medical Centre every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m to 12:30 p.m. There is also a Garden Activity Group at Green Futures once a month and a programme of community health walks at 9:45 a.m every Thursday starting from St Michaels Church in Grimsby. For more information about any of these activities, call the Alzheimer’s Society at 01724 848 594.
Navigo NAViGO and the Dementia Action Alliance for North East Lincolnshire are working together to find out people’s experiences using the Older People’s Mental Health Services and voluntary organisations.
The group meets on the first Tuesday of every month from 1:30 p.m to 3:30pm at the Carers Support Centre in Grimsby. For more information or to make arrangements if you cannot attend the meetings contact: Kelly Moore 01472 302515 kelly.moore3@nhs.net or Julie Harrison Julie.harrison@alzheimers.org.uk dementiaaction.org.uk Friendship at Home Friendship at Home offer Independent Living services for over 60’s including domestic support, assistance with shopping, dog walking, and some gardening services. For more information, contact Rhiannon at 01472 694055
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Healthwatch England Annual Conference Our Chair, Mike Bateson, and Partnership Co -ordinator, Paul Glazebrook, attended the Healthwatch England Annual Conference in Manchester from 30 June – 1 July. The theme for this year was ‘Being Healthwatch’ and was well attended from across all the Healthwatch nationally. Presentations included the challenges facing social care, working together with the CQC, influencing change and being a people champion.
Assessments and on Complaints Handling at the local hospital. These were two out of 150 submissions received so we were not too surprised at not being shortlisted for awards. On the second day, the eight winners were allowed to make brief submissions and one was chosen as overall winner – Healthwatch Northamptonshire for work they did in a medium secure mental health facility to give patients a voice.
The first day concluded with an Awards ceremony. Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire made two submissions for awards for our work on Continuing Care
Volunteering News In 3 June we commenced Enter and View visits to Diana Princess of Wales Hospital. We went again on 13 July. Our plan is to go monthly with a team of four representatives and to visit four wards/units each time. Now that the number of Enter and View volunteers has increased we also plan to return to visiting two residential homes each month from August.
The Enter and View team met for a Coffee Morning on 1 July and discussed future plans, including the possibility of expanding their regular visits to different services. If you are interested in joining our volunteering team, please contact healthwatchnel@nbforum.org.uk or 01472 361459.
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Meet Healthwatch NEL Our Team
Paul Glazebrook
Tayo Davenport
Bayard Tarpley
Partnership Co-ordinator
Communications & Engagement Worker
Project Support Officer
Our Board
Michael Bateson
Sam O’Brien
Malcolm Morland
Jane Mansfield
Esther Smith
Sean Snelson (Co-optee)
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Healthwatch North East Lincolnshire 146 Freeman Street, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, DN32 7AN.