Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership leaders welcomed the publication of a Healthwatch public engagement report ‘What would you do?’ this week.

In 2018, the government announced that the NHS’ budget would be increased by £20 billion a year. In January 2019, the NHS published a long term plan which covers certain priorities that the NHS will focus on over the next 10 years.

The “what would you do” Campaign ran by local Healthwatch across Humber, Coast and Vale including Healthwatch York, North Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and Hull captured over 2000 responses on what local people want to see delivered locally across the region. Two surveys and 12 focus groups were ran to find out what people thought worked well and were things could be better.

The volume of information we received from the public have allowed Healthwatch to identify important trends of what is important to the people who live in our area. Some of those key results include:

• Knowledge and Access
• Choice and control
• Independence
• Interacting with your NHS

Report findings build on the engagement work taking place locally as well as that supporting Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership’s priorities, which include cancer, mental health, maternity services, and improving care for people with learning disabilities.

From access to discharge, patients will have expectations of what a patient journey should look like. Healthwatch spoke to members of the public to gather views on what works well, what doesn’t, and how would the public like to be more involved.

Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership recognise and value the significance of having peoples’ voices at the very heart of all they do and remain fully committed to actively listening whilst taking into consideration these views wherever possible.

Andrew Burnell, Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership Executive Lead, said: “The Partnership welcomes the report and the excellent work undertaken by local Healthwatch to provide such rich insights into the priorities and preferences of our local populations.

“Our local health and care services are designed and delivered for the benefit of the people who live within our region. As a Partnership we are committed to involving local people in the work that we do and strive to be as open and transparent as possible in all our work.

“The report from Healthwatch is a fantastic starting point for developing our Partnership Long Term Plan and ensures the voices of local people who use our services are taken into account as the plan is written.”

Matthew Fawcett, Manager for Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire said “Healthwatch is all about putting the public’s voice at the forefront of health and care services, and would therefore like to give big thank you to all the people that took park in this important work.

The response from everyone was fantastic and the information is invaluable going forward in shaping services in the next 5 years.

We and our Healthwatch colleagues will continue to work closely together and be the critical friend to Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, especially as they look ahead to the future.  

There are some clear messages that came out in the report around inequalities in services, but also what people think the future NHS should look like, and we will continue working to improve the access, quality and experience of health and social care services for all in our region”.

The engagement findings are an important part of developing the Humber, Coast and Vale Five Year Plan and ensures that the public voice is heard.

For the full report go to www.healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk/reports

For more information on the work of HWERY please visit: www.healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk