1. Tell us your views to help improve social care

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    With social care services under pressure, the Government has announced it will publish a Green Paper on social care next summer.

  2. Tired of explaining: the experiences of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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    When Healthwatch Trafford spoke to people with ME and CFS, they found that over 76% felt their GP didn’t understand their condition. Find out how they think support could be improved.

  3. Fewer hospital appointments missed thanks to one simple idea

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    Find out how one simple suggestion from deaf people in Dudley led to a better experience of visiting hospital.

  4. Help shape the way we work

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    We need your views and ideas to make sure that health and social care services work better for everyone. Share your views and help shape our future strategy.

  5. How a simple change helped make an A&E department more child-friendly

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    Small and simple changes can help make a big difference to people's experiences of health and social care. Find out how a hospital has helped make visits easier for children after one mum spoke up.

  6. Every voice matters: Newcastle residents help transform local home care services

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    When home care services were due to be recommissioned in Newcastle, local Healthwatch went out to speak to people being looked after in their own homes to find out what they wanted.

  7. NHS needs to do more to understand why people are returning to hospital after being discharged

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    New figures show that emergency readmissions to hospital have risen by a fifth since 2012/13. Find out more about what our new analysis of emergency readmissions data tells us.

  8. Women and families who have lost babies speak up to support their peers

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    Women and families are getting the help they need after suffering the loss of a baby, thanks to support from people who have been through the same thing.

  9. Healthwatch England holds first public meeting and announces Dr. Katherine Rake as Chief Executive

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    At the first public meeting of Healthwatch England, Anna Bradley announced Dr Katherine Rake as Chief Executive.

  10. Have your say on which products should be available on prescription

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    The NHS wants to know which drugs and treatments you think should be made available on prescription.

  11. People share their experiences of being discharged from hospital

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    In our new briefing - What happens when people leave hospital and other care settings? – we share what over 2,000 people told local Healthwatch about their experiences of being discharged.

  12. Local NHS commits to making changes after patients share their experiences of A&E

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    The number of people visiting A&E in 2016 increased by 5.3% to 23.57 million. To better understand why more people have been visiting A&E, Healthwatch Reading spoke to patients to find out about their experience.

  13. Local Healthwatch calls on health and social care sector to help young carers

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    Young carers are often left feeling isolated when their caring responsibilities prevent them from accessing the same opportunities as their friends. Find out what one local Healthwatch has been doing to understand more about their experiences.

  14. Understanding the everyday experience of unpaid carers in Essex

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    Carers play a vital role in supporting people who are frail, ill or disabled, but, in doing so, carers often become vulnerable themselves. We look at one example of how local Healthwatch is working to find out if carers could be better supported.

  15. Home care services: What people told Healthwatch about their experiences

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    Over the last year, the number of local Healthwatch citing improvements to home care services as a priority for their community has doubled. Our new report explains what people have told Healthwatch about their experience of home care.

  16. Islington resident helps make phoning social workers easier

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    Angela’s idea has helped make it easier for people in Islington to speak to their social worker on the phone.

  17. Student volunteers help research patient views

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    Thousands of volunteers give up their time to find out what people around the country think of health and care every year. Find out about one Healthwatch’s award-winning approach to recruiting volunteers.

  18. People as partners for better care

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    The past year has shown what is possible when services engage people as equal partners in improving care. This needs to happen more if health reforms are to be successful.

  19. Life in a care home, what's it really like?

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    Between January 2016 and April 2017, local Healthwatch visited 197 care homes across 63 different local authority areas in England to find out what life is really like for people living in care homes. Our new report explains what we found.

  20. Helping residents in care homes to remain active

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    The quality of support offered in care homes has improved because residents spoke up about what they wanted.

  21. Young Ambassadors champion eye care at local primary schools

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    Healthwatch Bedford Borough has taken part in the first child-led campaign launched to tackle avoidable blindness in the UK.

  22. Let them eat rice cake?

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    Our National Director talks about the importance of everyone having their say on what should be available on prescription.

  23. Healthwatch 2019 Network Award Winners announced

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    Find out about our celebration of the contribution made by local staff and volunteers who helped gather more than half a million people's views last year.

  24. How one man helped make cancer care better by sharing his experience

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    Before he sadly passed away in May 2019, Mike Chapman went out of his way to use his experience to help make care better for people affected by cancer. Mike was recognised for his outstanding achievement at the Healthwatch Network Awards 2019.

  25. People share what a good A&E experience looks like

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    Our research shows that the public value a wide range of factors when it comes to good care in A&E, which is why we're working with the NHS to ensure new measures take people’s full experiences into consideration.

  26. What have people told us about health and social care

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    Thousands of people share their experiences of health and care with Healthwatch every month. Download our briefing to find out the key issues people are raising about GPs, hospitals and other care services.

  27. Healthwatch help people in south London get support after leaving hospital

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    Being discharged from hospital isn’t just about going home – it’s about the care and support you receive afterwards too. Read about two local Healthwatch who have won an award for working together to help people in south London get what they need.

  28. Thousands of people's views, all in one place

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    Our reports library tool aims to help you search thousands of reports produced by local Healthwatch. Take a look and tell us what you think so that we can make it the best it can be.

  29. Man with dementia leads improvements to care for people in Shropshire

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    A Shropshire man with dementia has been using his experiences to help improve support for local people with the disease.

  30. New drive to improve social care complaints handling

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    Listening to feedback and learning from it is vital to improve quality of service. We have launched a new toolkit to help councils, care staff and services work together to build a positive culture around complaints and the opportunities to learn.

  31. Three steps to improve mental health support for young people

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    We spoke to 47 young people to find out how they want extra funding to be used, so they can access the mental health support they need.

  32. Addressing GP access issues for people in Hertfordshire

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    Patients struggling to access GP services helped by Healthwatch Hertfordshire

  33. Healthwatch Network Award Winners 2017

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    The Healthwatch Network Awards recognise the ways in which Healthwatch across the country have helped make people’s views of health and social care services heard over the last 12 months. Take a look at our winners this year.

  34. SpeakUp2020: Share your views and help make the NHS better

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    New campaign calls on the public to their experiences of NHS services to help make care better for all.

  35. What's your health or social care priority this year? #SpeakUp2020

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    Here's what people have already told us about their experiences of hospital care, mental health support and social care. #SpeakUp2020 and tell us about the changes that you would like to see.

  36. NHS England working to improve communications with people who are transgender or non-binary

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    NHS England publish their first in their series of regular updates about what they are doing to improve gender identity services.

  37. Speaking up helps improve care for sheltered housing residents

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    A 96-year-old sheltered housing resident and manager have helped improve ambulance services in Dorset.

  38. Improving GP services for Deaf patients

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    With more than 11 million people in the UK with some form of hearing loss, it is important that health services understand their needs. Find out about the action one Healthwatch took when concerns were raised about accessing local GP services.

  39. GP surgeries updating good practice in registering new patients thanks to local Healthwatch

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    Almost all GP practices in Southampton routinely ask for proof of identity, potentially denying many people access to care in Southampton.

  40. Parent secures changes to orthotics services by sharing her son’s experience

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    Speaking up about her son’s experience saw one woman help improve orthotics services for people across the country.

  41. Katherine Rake to move on from Healthwatch England

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    Having set Healthwatch England up and nurtured it through the first three years, Healthwatch Chief Executive Katherine Rake has now decided to move on in the New Year to pursue a portfolio and consultancy career.

  42. What inspires students to volunteer with us?

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    Volunteers’ Week is a chance to say a huge thank you to our 6,000+ amazing volunteers who help make a difference to health and care across the country.

  43. Official figures on complaints don’t tell the full story.

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    New figures show that 562 written complaints were made to the NHS per day in 2014-15, however recorded complaints are only part of the picture.

  44. Perspectives on primary care part 6: the Deaf community

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    To build on our understanding on people's experiences of primary care, we spoke to a group of people from the Deaf community in East London who told us about the challenges they experience.

  45. Why young people get involved in shaping health and care

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    With 23% of people in Leeds aged under 19, YouthWatch was created to help find out what young people want from local health and care services. We speak to three volunteers about why they got involved.

  46. Making it easier to get to hospital in Buckinghamshire

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    After hearing that people were struggling to get to hospital appointments due to problems with local transport, Healthwatch Buckinghamshire decided to investigate.

  47. Get to know our volunteers: Faiza

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    Did you know? 45% of people we polled said they would be interested in volunteering to help improve local health and social care services.