Making decisions guided by evidence, lived experience and our values

At People First Conference Centre, staff, learners, and partners all contribute to shaping services, making decisions practical, inclusive, and values-led. In the Hospitality Academy, staff mentor learners while learners bring fresh ideas, creating a culture where everyone is involved.

This approach has led to real improvements. Feedback helped introduce the online ordering system at the cancer centre café and extend NHS staff discounts during the cost-of-living crisis. Learners gained confidence and insight into business decisions, while staff strengthened teamwork and mentoring skills.

The results are clear. NHS staff benefit from accessible food, learners take pride in making meaningful contributions, and both venues achieved 5-star Environmental Health ratings. Shared decision-making has also created new opportunities, including catering contracts in Carlisle and a café at Riverside Housing in Workington.

In 2025, we launched the Cumberland Advocacy Steering Group to meet quarterly with other organisations and Adult Social Care, working together to improve advocacy services for residents and professionals.

The group provides a space to share updates, exchange resources, network, and gather feedback. Members help develop recommendations, improve service accessibility and quality, streamline referrals, keep information up-to-date, embed advocacy principles into practice, and create feedback loops for continuous improvement.

This project aimed to break the stigma surrounding addiction, by focusing on the person behind the addiction. We conducted case studies with local people who have been affected by addiction. This included people living with active addiction, people living in recovery, and people affected by someone else’s addiction.

We spoke to 29 people who bravely shared their stories. We reached out to a marginalised community of people that face barriers everyday. By working with each of the recovery services, it meant that we had a collective goal for supporting services users improving drug and alcohol services across Cumbria.

Our ‘Behind the Addiction’ project was concluded with our ‘Try Dry July’ event in Carlisle City Centre, which brought together local wellbeing and recovery services to provide signposting and support to local people, and raise awareness of the impacts of addiction and how people affected can get help. Hosting a city centre event, where we were in a public places at the heart of the city, meant we could break the stigma surrounding addiction. We had a feature in the newspaper and an interview on the radio which reached an additional 10,000 people.

Between October 2023 and March 2024, Healthwatch Lancashire ran a project to understand the experiences of Deaf people who use British Sign Language when accessing health and social care. Feedback from 149 people through focus groups, case studies, surveys, and a mystery shopping activity highlighted key barriers: difficulty booking appointments by phone, lack of interpreters or unreliable video interpretation, and challenges accessing local authority support.

Since the project, we’ve been working with partners to turn the recommendations into action. In July 2025, we held the first meeting of the group, including representatives from the Integrated Care Board, local trusts, Lancashire County Council, and community partners. One early success is the appointment of a dedicated social worker for Deaf people, and the Deaf Link Worker role is under review to expand support further.

Future meetings will focus on finding practical solutions to the barriers identified, ensuring Deaf people can access health and social care services confidently and fairly.

In 2025, the Healthwatch Stockton compiled and presented the Patient Voice to the Integrated Care Board and hospital leadership, ensuring that lived experience directly informed strategic discussions. Our report highlighted several key areas for improvement, including the need for stronger mental health support, better transport access, and improved coordination between hospitals and primary care.

Partners acknowledged the insights as valuable in shaping future plans and priorities, reinforcing the role of Healthwatch as a vital bridge between communities and decision-makers. By bringing together clear evidence, real stories, and practical recommendations, we enabled constructive, evidence-based dialogue across the system.

Supporting information included anonymised feedback, a thematic analysis of emerging issues, and links to collaborative responses from the Integrated Care Boards and NHS Trusts, demonstrating how patient experiences continue to drive improvement across cancer care pathways.