An independent Healthwatch
After a year of negotiations, and three months of intensive work, Telford & Wrekin Council agreed that the board of directors was ready and fully equipped for independence.
The new contract and deed of novation was signed by all three organisations.
Gill Stewart, vice chair, said: “We welcome our freedom to work with local people to ensure the best provision for Telford people, as plans for hospital and other provision change.”
HWTW was formed in mid-2013 to replace the former Local Involvement Network (LINk) organisation, and to be the champion for patients, carers, and the community in all local health and social care issues. It has statutory powers to enter and view any publicly-funded health or social care premises, so that its representatives can listen to patients, residents, relatives, and carers, and develop an overview of the quality of care being delivered.
Healthwatch attends key meetings of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH), the Health and Wellbeing Board, and the Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), ensuring that the views of the public are considered by decision-makers, and has a seat on the Future Fit programme board.
As part of its relaunch, HWTW has adopted a new ‘Trip Advisor’-style website, on which members of the public can view and browse reviews of services they have recently used. It is hoped that this will allow the public to see what is going right or wrong with local health and social care providers for themselves. This is in addition to the staff team and volunteers regularly attending events around the borough to collect feedback.
Most recently, the organisation has completed a project regarding access to GP appointments, worked with young people on a sexual health survey, and looked at the issues facing older people with dementia.
