Health and care partners thank local Healthwatch
26 July 2019
Leaders of the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System have welcomed the publication of a Healthwatch engagement report on the NHS Long Term Plan.
From March to June 2019, Healthwatch Coventry and Healthwatch Warwickshire worked together to launch and promote two surveys as well as a series of face to face focus groups. The report brings together nearly 800 public responses about how to make care better and understand what changes are needed to get people the support they need. There was also a specific conditions survey which asked about the health and care support that people received and what could be improved.
The report highlights shorter waiting times for appointments and more holistic care, taking into account a patients wider health and wellbeing, as being important. It also highlighted local improvement is needed around access to services, transport and communication between services.
Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System’s vision is for everyone to have the best health and wellbeing possible and public conversations are essential to this. The report’s findings builds on the engagement work taking place locally, as well as supporting Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System's priorities, which include cancer, mental health, emergency care, maternity services and out of hospital community based care.
Rachael Danter, System Transformation Director at Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System, said: “I would like to thank our local Healthwatch colleagues for their hard work in producing this report. It is so important that the Partnership continues to develop its work based on the views of local people. That means gaining feedback from our patients and the public as well as our partners, stakeholders and staff, particularly in planning and delivering future health and care services.
“In the first instance, the report will feed into a wider engagement review for the whole health and care system in Coventry and Warwickshire, to identify common trends and themes, such as the importance of access and person-centred care. It will also help to identify gaps in our understanding of the needs of local people and highlight potential areas for further engagement.
“This report is a single but important step in a much larger programme of engagement and we look forward to our continued partnership with our local Healthwatch organisations to improve the health, wellbeing and outcomes of everybody in Coventry and Warwickshire.”
In 2018, the government announced that the NHS would receive additional funding over the next five years. In January 2019, the NHS in England published a Long Term Plan for spending this extra money, covering everything from making care better to investing more money in technology and helping more people stay well.
You can read and download the engagement report here: http://www.healthwatchwarwickshire.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Healthwatch-Coventry-and-Warwickshire-NHS-LTP-Report.pdf