Annual. Report

Transcription

1 Annual Report

2 Contents 2 Foreword by Terry Bamford OBE- Chair 3 About Healthwatch Bexley 4 Community Engagement 5-6 The Advisory Board 7 Staff and Enter and View Representatives 8 Information and Signposting 9-10 Enter and View 11 Strategic Influence 12 Projects How We Have Influenced the Provision of Health and Social Care Services 15 How We Have Used Our Resources 16 How We Are Run 17 Planning Ahead 2015/16 18 Contact Us 19

3 Foreword 3 The role of Healthwatch is to champion the interests of patients and users of health and care services. Bexley Healthwatch, unlike most other Healthwatch, does not have an acute hospital in its area. As a result it does not have a natural focus for its work on hospital-based care. It has to work in collaboration with other Healthwatch bodies in South East London and Kent who also use University Hospital Lewisham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital. The effectiveness of that collaboration was recognised by Healthwatch England which gave a special award to the South East London Healthwatch for their collaborative work on joint Enter and View visits. These are reported elsewhere in this report. The distinctive features of South East London are recognised in the production of Our Healthier South East London. This collaborative strategy recognises that there needs to be a shift from hospital based care to care nearer to home, that more services including diagnostic tests should be available locally and that primary care services need to be more accessible using the full potential of phone and internet advice. Healthwatch and patient voices have been involved in the development of the strategy serving on planning groups. It has often been said that the National Health service is really a National Illness Service. Good health however is the responsibility of all of us because through diet, smoking and alcohol we influence health outcomes in later life. Childhood obesity is a particular problem in Bexley. The Health and Wellbeing Board- a partnership of the local authority, Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group and the voluntary sector including Healthwatch- has a vital role in ensuring joint working between schools, health and social care to address this. In addition to working with other Healthwatch groups in South East London we have played a full role in the Health and Wellbeing board, Bexley Patients Council and Bexley Safeguarding children Board. We undertook a survey of access to primary care which was launched by Dr Nikki Kanani, vice chair of the CCG Governing Body. The findings of the survey are detailed elsewhere in the report. We have two other major projects nearing completion. The first is a research study jointly with the University of Kent into domiciliary care. The second is an examination of services for young people with disabilities or mental health problems moving from childrens services to adult services. This report will give you more detail about the work we have been doing. I hope it will encourage you to get involved. We need local residents willing to help us ensure that the quality of local services continues to improve. And we need to hear from you of any concerns you have about local Health and Care services. Finally I want to record my thanks to the members of the Advisory Board for their guidance and suggestions. My particular thanks are due to Anne Hinds-Murray, Nicola Rigby and Lotta Hackett, the staff of Healthwatch Bexley who field enquiries, produce bulletins on our work and attend numerous events and meetings to ensure that the voice of local people is heard. Terry Bamford OBE Chair

4 About Healthwatch Bexley 4 Healthwatch Bexley was created through the Health and Social Care Act 2012 Our role is: Listen to people s experience of Health and Social Care Services. Help people to get the best from Health and Social Care. Challenge inequalities in access, care and outcomes. Help people to give feedback on services. Say where things need to improve. Work with the Health and Wellbeing Board and other local bodies to tackle inequalities and make sure people receive the Health and Social Care support they need. Bexley residents travel outside the borough to attend acute hospitals in South East London and North Kent 39 GP practices 232,000 people live in Bexley * 29 Dental practices *Figures from 2011 census

5 Community Engagement and Impact 5 We ve been out and about in the local community. We have an inclusive approach which means we ve engaged with organisations who represent all sections of the Bexley community. Healthwatch staff are regularly out in the community, talking to people about the services they use and listening to what is working well and what could be improved. We reached out to the community when we ran stalls and workshops at other organisations events, including Bexley Voices Annual Conference and transitions workshops with Mencap, Bridging the Gap and Ken Boyce Centre. We have attended 56 events into 2014/15 and spoke to over 1,350 people about their experiences of Health and Social Care Services. We used the information they gave us to form our priorities and inform commissioners and service providers about their services. What people in the community told us: The community reported that accessing GP appointments was difficult No available appointments left when you can finally get through. We reported the difficulties experienced by residents to the local GPs and our report is feeding into the local primary care development plan. The Local Authority asked us to gather feedback from people receiving domiciliary care. I d really like to meet new people because I get very lonely and don t see anyone other than the carers. We arranged for the befriending service to contact those who reported feeling lonely and isolated and have received feedback that their situation has improved.

6 Community Engagement and Impact 6 We organised and facilitated a meeting with hospital staff and parents to discuss facility issues raised by parents of children receiving oncology services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I don t want to have to leave my child alone to go and get something to eat for myself As a result better facilities have been provided for parents whose children are in isolation including access to a microwave, fridge, tea and coffee making facilities. Children who are in isolation are now allocated timed slots to have access to the outdoor play facilities to enable them to use the facilities without the risk of cross contamination. Play Co-ordinators now visit all children in isolations and provide play sessions and age related toys. We were contacted by carers and family members of residents in North House, a 14-bed facility, which provides rehabilitation services for in-patients with Mental Ill Health. The families and carers were concerned as they had been informed by Oxleas that North House would be closed without any consultation with family members or residents. We don t know what s happening, we haven t been told anything. Can you help us? We contacted senior management at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and those Commissioning the service at Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group. As a result of all Family and Carers were assisted with supporting their family member with the move. All residents (except one) were relocated to suitable accommodation within the borough local to carers and family members. All residents received a detailed relocation plan.

7 The Advisory Board 7 The Healthwatch Bexley Advisory Board are an appointed group of professionals who represent the interest of Healthwatch. The Advisory Board is responsible for agreeing priorities, evaluating performances and overseeing Healthwatch activities. Terry Bamford OBE Chair Healthwatch has a special role in speaking up for vulnerable and marginalised groups who find it hard to navigate their way through health and social care structures Shanie Dengate Local Authority Representative From helping to design and deliver strategies, to producing in depth reports on services, Healthwatch continues to make a real impact on the way the health and care system delivers for Bexley residents Paul Goulden CEO Age UK Bexley Older people tend to have more engagement with health and social care services in this borough so it is vital that their views and interests are brought to Healthwatch Bexley so that their voice can be heard Julia Hart Monitor Healthwatch Bexley continues to make a difference to the healthcare needs of residents living in Bexley; we are the peoples' champion Brenda McCaig Carers Representative I have found being a member of the board an interesting experience. It has allowed me keep mental health and carers in the forefront whilst also increasing my knowledge in other areas. David Palmer CEO Mind in Bexley Engagement with those with Mental Ill Health and those who care for them is vitally important, we look forward to the work Healthwatch plans to do in 2015/16 around Mental Health Services. Liz Shires Patient Representative I enjoy that I can have an input by hearing people's experiences and feeding them back to the board Sakthi Suriyaprakasam CEO BVSC Sandra Wakeford CCG Lay person Both Healthwatch and the CCG are committed to ensuring health services delivered to the Bexley population are of high quality. Our close collaboration enables the CCG to hear any issues patients take to Healthwatch Bexley which allow the CCG the opportunity to put quick solutions in place

8 Staff and Enter and View Representatives 8 The staff team work in partnership with local agencies and strategic bodies to ensure that as many people as possible are aware of the work of Healthwatch and can have their say on Health and Social Care Services in Bexley. Healthwatch Bexley Staff: Anne Hinds-Murray Manager Nicola Rigby Administrative Assistant Lotta Hackett Engagement Facilitator The continued development of our strategic and statutory relationships has enabled our work to excel this year and we have had greater influence for residents accessing GP services, for those using maternity services and by working on the pharmacy needs assessment. Listening to the voice of residents involved in the Domiciliary Care research project has been very rewarding and will enable Healthwatch Bexley to raise important issues with Commissioners and the Health and Wellbeing board I found working with the young people and families on the Pilot Transition Focus Groups to be informative and very interesting and I look forward to undertaking further research in this area in 2015/16. Enter and View Authorised Representatives: Valerie Curtis Gill Davies Linda Bellingham Terry Murphy Mei Wells

9 Information and Signposting 9 Helping people get what they need from local Health and Social Care Services One of the statutory activities for Healthwatch Bexley is to help people by giving them information about which Health and Social Care Service to use. When they want to raise a concern we direct them to the relevant place. We ve helped people get an NHS dentist, to find the right Home Care agency and register with local GP. 124 In 2014/15 we have given information by phone or ,which has helped Bexley residents to find the right service for them or to challenge shortcomings in services. Our signposting and information service allows people to make informed choices about their care. We have received in excess of 120 enquiries for residents wanting information about accessing health and social care services in Bexley. Thank you for your help, I m feeling so much happier now Case Study - Signposting A resident who was over 80 years old telephoned us to ask for help with loneliness and isolation. We signposted her to AGE UK Bexley s befriending service and to Evergreen Care who provide volunteering opportunities. We also put her in contact with the health walks programme run by the Local Authority. She called back three weeks later to thank us and to let us know that she now has having a befriender and had joined the health walk programme and had enjoyed it immensely and had improved her wellbeing.

10 Information and Signposting We want information and signposting to be as accessible as possible and to reach as many people as possible. During the year we published a Health and Social Care Signposting Directory and distributed it throughout the borough at no cost to Healthwatch. We regularly produce a round up of local/regional news on Health and Social Care in our e-newsletter. 10 Our website, co.uk is regularly updated and is under constant development as a source of up to date information on the latest news about Health and Social Care, locally, regionally and nationally. The site provides readers with: Frequent updates on Health and Social Care in Bexley. A calender of events related to Health and Social Care. Volunteer opportunities and recruitment. In 2014/15 the Healthwatch Bexley website had 2,084 visitors Facebook friends Twitter followers

11 Enter and View 11 How do I have my say? Healthwatch has statutory powers to carry out Enter and View visits to Health and Social Care services across the borough. This is an important tool to gather evidence about how well services meet the needs of local communities. One key benefit of Enter and View is that it is carried out by local residents, giving a fresh perspective. Our volunteers notice aspects of care that may not be obvious to professionals or inspectors, but that make a real difference to patients and carers. Our team of Authorised representatives have been fully trained and receive ongoing support from Healthwatch staff. South East London Healthwatch Network Enter and View Programme and Training Healthwatch Bexley has continued into 2014/15 strong collaborative working around Enter and View with Healthwatch Bromley, Lewisham, Greenwich, Southwark and Lambeth. At the first annual Network awards, hosted by Healthwatch England, in June of 2014 Healthwatch Bexley along with the other five boroughs from South East London won an award for best collaborative working. If you wish to view any of our Enter and View reports they are all available on our website Joint South East London Enter and View - Maternity Services Across the Boroughs In May 2014, a series of Enter and View visits were undertaken collaboratively by the six South East London Healthwatch, to the maternity departments across South East London and North Kent. A comparative report was published in May 2014 along with the providers responses. Enter and View Visit - Access to GPs Over 320 people completed our survey during our Enter and View visits to 10 GP practices across Bexley. Individual reports were written for each practice and a comparative report was completed. The recommendations made were well received by GPs, CCG and the Health and Wellbeing Board. More staff are needed to cover the phones during the early morning appointment scramble

12 Strategic Influence 12 Quality Accounts We have produced joint responses with Healthwatch Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich on Quality Accounts from local healthcare providers who deliver services in more than one of the South East London boroughs. This year we have provided comments on Quality Accounts from Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice. Local Authority Adult Social Care Annual Account We provided a commentary on the Adult Social Care Annual Account 2014 which highlights what the Local Authority have achieved in supporting Bexley residents to lead more active, healthy and independent lives. Health and Wellbeing Board As part of our statutory requirements, the Chair of Healthwatch Bexley sits on the local Health and Wellbeing Board and keeps patient and public experience at the forefront with regards to strategic and the development and delivery of services. Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) We were invited to be part of the PNA steering committee. The Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) has a statutory duty to assess needs for pharmaceutical services in its area, and produce a new Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment for Bexley. A PNA is a document which records the assessment of the need for pharmaceutical services within a specific area. We were involved in agreeing the consultation document (draft PNA report) which set out a statement of the pharmaceutical services which are currently provided, together with when and where these are available to a given population. We distributed the consultation widely through our website and e-bulletin. PLACE Monitoring Visits Healthwatch volunteers have carried out PLACE (Patient Led Assessment of Care Environments) Monitoring visits at local NHS services to monitor different aspects of patient experience such as cleanliness, physical access, food tasting and signage. Staff have also attended PLACE training and we aim to recruit more volunteers for this role in the coming year.

13 Projects 13 AN EXPLORATION OF THE IMPACT OF HOME (DOMICILIARY) CARE PROVISION ON WELL-BEING AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF SERVICE USERS IN BEXLEY Healthwatch Bexley are working with academics from the University of Kent and Christchurch University to find out the views of people who receive care at home (or domiciliary care as it also called) in order to explore the impact of this service on their well-being and quality of life. The project takes a user-focused collaborative approach through engagement with individuals who are accessing Domiciliary Care in the London Borough of Bexley (LBB). A randomly selected sample of 500 recipients will be invited to take part in to the study with an aim to The carer is really kind and makes me feel safe and secure undertake face-to-face interviews will be conducted with those who volunteer to participate. We hope that the project will provide new information on the quality of Home Care services and will help to improve service provision in the Borough. At the end of the project, the research team will exhibit the findings throughout Bexley and report the findings to the Health and Wellbeing Board and Commissioners to consider ways of improving the existing provision. We are aiming to complete the study in Autumn I did have cause to complain because Wednesday is the only day that I normally go out in the morning and it s Sod s law that Wednesday is the day they are going to let me down

14 Projects 14 THE EXPERIENCES OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES AND CARERS OF THE TRANSITION FROM CHILDRENS SERVICES TO ADULTS SERVICES PILOT Healthwatch Bexley recently undertook a pilot study into Transition for young people with physical disability, learning disability or mental ill health in Bexley aged The project sought to explore the experiences of young people and their families as they move from childrens services to adults services within health and social care, including education. The information obtained from the families was collected through four focus groups and a total of 23 people participated. The focus The hardest thing since (my daughter) left school has been the separation of health from social care and education as that worked so well groups were facilitated with the help of community organisations including Bexley Mencap, Ken Boyce Day Centre and Bridging The Gap. The report will summarise the findings of the focus groups, highlight shortfalls in current practice and make recommendations for how the process learning disability training development people SEN support lifestyle children strategy mental ill health asperger education can be improved, including best practice examples. Further research and discussions with children and young people will be undertaken and a final report will be published 2015/16. young people health autism physio schooling inclusive support one size fits all battle behaviour intolerance independence

15 How We Have Influenced the Provision of Health and Social Care Services 15 We have published 12 reports. We have made 41 recommendations. All the reports are available to view on our website Recommendations such as: GP - Extended opening hours to accommodate patients with work and other commitments and to offer flexibility and choice to patients. Maternity Services - Recruit more maternity staff and ensure there is enough cover for shifts at weekends A&E - When patients arrive by ambulance and are taken straight to the clinical area, they should be reassured and given information when available, and offered refreshments if appropriate We ve shared information with the CQC about 18 Local services We ve made 4 reports to the Health and Wellbeing Board and 4 reports to the Peoples Overview and Scrutiny Committee. We ve taken part in 8 user forums and focus groups. We ve linked with the local academic network through Canterbury Christchurch University and The University of Kent, so that our future reports will be grounded in the most up to date research.

16 How We Have Used Our Resources /15 Funding received from Local Authority to deliver Healthwatch statutory function 134,400 Additional Income 21,932* Total Income 156,332 Healthwatch Bexley has a two year contract from the London Borough of Bexley up to March 2015, from April 2015-March 2016 the Local Authority have rolled the contract for a third year. We carried forward some money from year one of the contract to pay for planned Domiciliary Care Research Project in 2014/15. * 18,000 planned Domiciliary Care Research Project and 3,932 underspend from 2013/14. Payroll Costs 92,600 Office Costs 10,700 (includes rent, utilities, telephone, postage, printing and photocopying) Research 8,000 Project Costs 4,870 (including training) Professional Fees 1,205 Management Costs 12,000 Independent Chair 5,500 IT and Marketing 2,500 Volunteer Costs 950 Carried Forward 18,000 (To be used for research and exhibition to be completed autumn 2015) Staff Healthwatch Bexley has 3 staff members (2.2 WTE)

17 How We Are Run 17 Healthwatch Bexley is a hosted organisation. The host organisations are Mind in Bexley and Age UK Bexley. Healthwatch Bexley Advisory Board is made up of nine board members. In 2014/15 we held Six Advisory Board Meetings and Four Focus Groups

18 Planning Ahead 2015/16 18 In spring 2015/16 we will complete the exploration of the impact of home (domiciliary) care provision on well-being and quality of life of service users in Bexley project and the experiences of young people and their families and carers of the transition from childrens services to adults services pilot. In the Summer we plan to undertake a piece of research on NHS dental services within Bexley which will include community dentistry service, domiciliary dentistry service and emergency NHS dental care. The outcome of this work has been agreed as a priority by the Advisory Board following the large number of contacts we have had from the public looking for assistance in accessing NHS dental care. The Impact of the dentistry work will be enable Bexley Residents to access NHS Dental services more easily. In the Autumn we will commence a project looking at Mental Health Services, working with our colleagues from Healthwatch Greenwich and Healthwatch Bromley because we share a Mental Health Trust across the three boroughs. The impact of the Mental Health Services work will be identify gaps in service provision and highlight good practice which will be disseminated to the Health and Wellbeing Board, service providers and those commissioning services. In the Winter 2015/Spring 2016 we will undertake a project with the five other South East London Healthwatch around discharge from hospital, looking at unsafe discharge, discharge late at night and discharge with little or no support in place. The impact is to highlight areas of good practice and the consequences of unsafe discharge for residents and family member and to outline the cost savings of getting discharge right first time. We will disseminate project findings widely.

19 Contact Us 19 Get in touch Healthwatch Bexley Milton House 240a Broadway Bexleyheath Kent DA6 8AS Tel: Website: healthwatchbexley.co.uk We will be making this Annual report publicly available by June 30th 2015, by publishing it on our website and circulating it to Healthwatch England, CQC, NHS England, Clinical Commissioning Group, The Peoples Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Health and Wellbeing Board and the London Borough of Bexley. We confirm that we are using the Healthwatch Trademark (which covers the logo and Healthwatch brand) when undertaking work on our statutory activities as covered by the licence agreement. If you require this report in an alternate format please contact us at the address above. Copyright Healthwatch Bexley 2015

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