Reaching out to our local community
We strive to make sure we hear from as wide a range of our diverse community as possible. We want to tell the people who make decisions and change things about the experiences everyone has with health and care services.
We understand that factors such as culture, location, wealth, education, environment and discrimination can lead to worse health outcomes, and we support the strong consensus that this must change. At Healthwatch, we stand ready to help by doing more to amplify the voices of communities that go unheard and reduce the barriers they face.
Bringing people together
On 27 April 2023, 72 local people attended our Social care. Who cares? forum. This was an opportunity to share experiences around social care, and to put questions to our panel of social care professionals. Local people were encouraged to suggest questions, which were submitted to the panel prior to the event. Their topics included the ability to seek and receive support, eligibility, ensuring that needs are met, accountability in decision-making, respite, service gaps, parental support, and hospital discharge.
Senel Arkut, Corporate Director of People at Harow Council, said: “We want to engage in conversations; we want to hear from people and the impact on the end user. We care, and if you think things are not right, we are open to improvement.”
Improving care over time
On 29 November 2023, 75 local people attended our How has health and social care changed for you? forum. We recognise that there is significant work being undertaken to improve the provision of health and social care services by the commissioners and providers of these services. Their aim is to ensure that services are integrated and easy to access, and that people do not have to repeat their story to many people.
The people that commission the services worked with Healthwatch Harrow in delivering this forum, and they wanted to hear from residents to find out if what they are doing is working.
Lisa Henshen, Managing Director of Harrow Borough-Based Partnership, shared positive changes and took on board residents’ comments.
