Giving people advice and information Helping people get what they need from local health and social care services Healthwatch Luton gave over 100 people advice and information throughout Advice and Information Healthwatch Luton pride themselves on being able to give honest, independent advice and information to people regarding their health and social care experiences. As well as the reports and those we spoke with directly, over 100 people contacted Healthwatch Luton over the course of the year, via email, telephone, coming to the office in our drop in session (Wednesday afternoon) or through social media. We logged complaints, concerns and compliments about the services being provided and fed these back to service providers and commissioners. Signposting Healthwatch Luton's first objective is to signpost people to an organisation or body who are better placed to deal with their experience. We signposted people to over 20 organisations within Luton, including voluntary organisations such as MIND BLMK, Headway or organisations who would offer advocacy support such as POhWER as well as service providers, such as Luton Borough Council. Recording We record all interactions from the public to ensure we have the evidence findings to report back to the service providers, and also to Healthwatch England and the Care Quality Commission. We recorded over 100 issues or concerns, ensuring each one was signposted or supported in some way. Some interactions resulted in us supporting individuals further, to ensure they recieved the help they needed. Working with other organisations Healthwatch Luton have developed many partnerships and relationships with stakeholder organisations within Luton. 2016.
How we have made a difference Our reports and recommendations Healthwatch Luton spent 2015-2016 prioritising two pieces of work; one being the Inpatient report at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, and one being the Repeat Prescription process. Inpatient Report The purpose of this review was to capture first hand and independently assess the overall experience for inpatients at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital. Healthwatch Luton’s Hospital Inpatient Working Group spoke with 496 people, receiving 49.6% valid responses from the 1000 questionnaires sent out. The review found that 84% of patients scored their overall inpatient experienced as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. There were a few recommendations for the hospital, including ‘better access to information and advice’ and ‘continuity of care from professionals’. Our full report can be found on our website. Repeat Prescription report: Patient Voice Our repeat prescription report was an independent review of the repeat prescription process within Luton. Healthwatch Luton were asked by the Health and Social Care Review Group to carry out an independent review of the changes that took place within Luton on the repeat prescription process. This would feed into the Luton Clinical Commissioning Group's overall evaluation of the service. The changes included patients would, where possible, order their repeat prescriptions directly with their GP, rather than directly with their community pharmacist in order to cut down on stock piling of medicines and producing waste.
Our plans for next year Future priorities For 2016-2017, our priorities will be determined by the intelligence we gather during 2015-2016. Our focus for the next year will be altered slightly. With a new Chair, new Chief Operating Officer, and new Board all now in place, we are hoping to develop the infrastructure of Healthwatch, and refocus our priorities on Healthwatch core objectives. These will include: Stakeholder Review (360) Gathering evidence and feedback and View Schedule Engagement Strategy Volunteer Strategy Communications Strategy Project work Internal Review 3 years in existence, Healthwatch Luton will dedicate some time (July) this year asking our stakeholders to review our organisation. Once we have this information, we will be able to compare where we were 3 years ago, where we are now, and where we want to be. One of the strategic aims of Healthwatch Luton will be to focus internally this year, ensuring all our governance and processes are able to cope robustly with the completing our core aims. We are hoping to develop the following areas within Healthwatch Luton: Gathering Evidence Through the Better Together Board, Healthwatch Luton have developed a new website and feedback centre (LHM). Healthwatch will use this intelligence gathered directly from people regarding their relevant health and social care services to feed into our strategic direction and determine our priority of work. This feedback centre will also allow us to feedback our intelligence to relevant providers, enabling us to communicate with evidence-based findings on issues or concerns regarding services within Luton. This will be the main focus of Relationships with partners and voluntary organisations Our engagement strategy will focus on gathering feedback from the people within Luton. In order to do this, we will prioritise developing robust and healthy relationships with all service providers,