Agenda item

Marie Kearns, Chief Executive, Harmony House, presented the first annual report of Healthwatch which provided details of the work that had been undertaken during 2013/14.  The achievements, progress against the work plan and challenges had included:

·  Public Consultation 

·  Consultation on the Closure of Broad Street Walk-in Centre, which had resulted in the CCG pilot of 25,000 extra urgent care appointments by GPs.

·  Progress against the work plan in regards to visits to Queen’s Hospital.

·  Social care visits to Darcy House, Cloud House and Look Ahead.

·  Survey to ascertain how easy it was for staff to raise concerns or to ‘whistle-blow’ in regards to inappropriate behaviour or care that was not to an acceptable standard.

·  Survey of young people’s dental experiences and provision of toothbrush for all 3 to 5 year olds project.

·  Children and Young Adults with Diabetes issues and actions.

·  Discharge from the stroke service survey.

·  Community Care Teams and Better Care Fund workshops held.

·  The cessation of 0844 telephone numbers by GPs in the Borough.

·  Issues that Healthwatch they were facing in regards to obtaining responses from GPs, including through Freedom of information requests. 

·  Difficulties in getting NELFT and BHRUT to contact patients discharged through the stroke service. 

Marie Kearns explained that Healthwatch recommendations were sometimes met with a non helpful response, such as a solicitor’s letter.  This might be due to a lack of understanding of the role of Healthwatch within some organisations in the sector.  Sharon Marrow advised that the CCG have and will continue to share information with Healthwatch.  A number of Board Members suggested that should Healthwatch have difficulties they should contact the appropriate Board Member who would be able to assist in facilitating responses from the appropriate part(s) of their organisation.

Helen Jenner, Corporate Director of Children’s Services indicated that she felt more work could be done with the Barking and Dagenham Youth Forum (B.A.D Forum) on young people’s health issues and felt that the engagement programme details would assist.

The Chair said that she needed some clarity on how concerns identified by Healthwatch are escalated to the Board.  The Chair also queried whether the same participants regularly take part in Healthwatch events or whether there were different organisations or people depending on the topic.  Marie Kearns advised that ‘voice cards’ were a way of gathering intelligence from a wider group and the cards use open questions to pick up trends.  Anne Bristow, Corporate Director of Adult and Community Services said that she was disappointed that the hub and spoke communication method had so far not resulted in more active involvement by the community.

Councillor Carpenter raised concerns about the size of Healthwatch as an organisation and its ability to deliver in view of the large brief and area Healthwatch covered.  Marie Kearns advised that they now had two full time staff and a number of good quality volunteers.  Cllr Carpenter indicated that she felt Healthwatch would need to ensure they prioritise and focus on both what could and needed to be delivered within timescales.  Marie Kearns advised that Healthwatch do not pick broad subjects, but pick specific issues that they can hone into but are sometimes dependant upon the responses or assistance of member organisations.

The Board:

(i)  Noted the progress made in the last year;

(ii)  Noted the difficulties that Healthwatch had experienced in receiving feedback / communications from Member organisations and that communications needed to be improved between both partners and contributors;

(iii)  Noted that Helen Jenner, Corporate Director of Children’s Services, would provide details of the Barking and Dagenham (BAD) Youth Forum to Healthwatch in order that young people’s views can be part of the Healthwatch engagement process; and,

(iv)  Asked Healthwatch to provide further clarification, at a future meeting, into the mix and number of individuals and cohort(s) they consult and how they can improve on the ‘hub and spoke’ method of working.