Healthwatch Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes – 27/10/2023
Healthwatch Staffordshire Advisory Committee
Friday 27th October 2023 –
Committee Meeting Minutes
| Item | Assigned/Actions | |
| 1 | Welcome and Apologies
Present Elaine Day Baz Tameez Derek Hoey Ian North Sanji Rahim Anna Mather
Apologies Nikki Archer
|
BT |
| 2 | Declarations of Interests
None
|
BT/ED |
| 3 | Chair to discuss direction of committee and interests.
ED opened the committee meeting with an update on the recent Healthwatch England Annual Conference in London that we attended (ED and BT). ED gave any update on the discussions and speakers at the event and how other local Healthwatch’s were voicing the same concerns on the health and social care system. ED voiced how the Healthwatch Staffordshire team seem to be working well together and the Team on the ground are touching base in exactly the right areas. Gratitude was expressed for the volunteers.
ED made everyone aware Healthwatch England now have a New Chair, Professor David Croisdale- Appleby.
Highlighted how informative Healthwatch Future Focus Plan is and pleased that is a 3-year plan from 2023-2026.
BT demonstrated to the committee on the agenda and discussed Healthwatch updates.
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ED
BT |
| 4 | Work programme Project Updates/ Intelligence/Feedback update – Public issues
Power Point presentation given to the committee today. (Healthwatch Update on deep dives) & the vision for Healthwatch Staffordshire over next 12 months.
The key issues being fed back to Healthwatch by members of the public continue to be:
BT updated on the deep dive investigations and how these are progressing.
Year 1 deep dive investigations: 1. Accessing Primary Care face to face ”When I want to and when I need to”.
2. Being a Seldom Heard/LGBTQI+ patient/resident in the health and care system
3. Root causes of good and poor teenage mental wellbeing and Health outcomes when you’ve been in care as a child.
Governance and Information Advice and Guidance. Healthwatch remit (feedback and signposting). Discussed Funding for Healthwatch and impact on hours of service to deliver positive discussions/challenges and changes.
Lack of Access to Primary and Secondary Care – the presentation showed how the ICB are now introducing the new ARRS roles (Additional Reimbursable Roles) to support GP’s and Access to Primary Care.
Issues around cost of living and winter – increased use of foodbanks, effecting people to attend appointments due to rurality and costs of transport to see a GP or for medication.
NHS strikes – This is further impacting the waiting list times for operations.
Healthwatch Intelligence Network (HWIN) – has been increasing with many Support Staffordshire member as part of its own network. This has allowed Healthwatch to increase feedback from Staffordshire wide services and the impact of current Health and Social Care services are having on the patient experience. This feedback is two way and good practice is being shared.
Enter & View – HW can visit a range of NHS & Social care premises, we have a statutory power to gain entry & gain feedback from staff, patients, and carers. This enables us to produce reports with recommendations to improve services. We don’t need evidence to enter but we want to remain a positive friend to encourage better practices and collaborative working. All Enter and Views can be viewed using this link: Enter & View Reports – Healthwatch Staffordshire
Action To work on the next set of Deep Dives for 2024.
Some suggestions could be around the patient journey:
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BT
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| 5 | Any other business
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| 6 | Date and Time of Next Meetings:
26th January 2024 at 2.30pm. The link will be on the website.
First half will be Public and then second half private.
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BT/Committee |
Chair – Healthwatch Advisory Committee
