There is a spring in our step at Healthwatch Lancashire, and we have been busy!🌱
This month, we have officially announced our 2025/26 work plan (how exciting), attended events like Spring Into Action and visited health hubs in Lancashire🏥
Our 2025/26 official projects!
You may remember that Healthwatch Lancashire launched a survey to find out what our community wanted us to focus our upcoming research projects on.
We took data from this survey and combined this with data from our engagement over the last year, and have created a work plan that aims to engage with communities to make important improvements to health and social care services across Lancashire.
Our 2025/26 work plan is as follows:
- Men's Health
- Disability Voices
- Ageing Well Without Family
- The Impact of Social Media on Young People
In March, you told us...
Last month, we engaged with 537 people across Lancashire who told us the most about GP services (41% of feedback) and hospitals (21% of feedback).
One individual shared that they had received a text message from their GP surgery asking them to book an appointment with their GP to discuss test results. Concerned, they phoned the surgery but were unable to get a same-day in-person appointment. Instead, they were offered a telephone consultation. They experienced considerable anxiety while waiting for the call, only to be told that everything was fine. This caused them needless distress, which could have been avoided if the results had simply been shared via text or voicemail.
Read our full You Told Us Report for March 2025 for an overview of Health and Social Care services in Lancashire.
How does Healthwatch Lancashire use your feedback?
We gather feedback in a few ways, through our Feedback Centre on our website, through meeting people at events and pop-ups, and via calls or emails and these methods help us to gather feedback from a variety of communities across Lancashire.
Your feedback informs project planning, our Enter and View visits, campaigns and topics brought to board meetings.
Find out more about how we use your feedback over on our blog!
Our Virtual Wards Report is Now Live!
You may remember last year we conducted a research project called Waiting for Wellness, which aimed to understand the mental health challenges facing children and young people (CYP).
During this project, we discovered that many CYP were unaware of where to seek support and faced long waiting times to access services, while neurodivergent people often struggle to get the help they need.
So, we teamed up with the NSPCC to work on a campaign called Action for Wellness and hosted a Mental Health and Wellbeing Day designed to highlight organisations that can support CYP and parents.
As part of an ongoing project, we have been investigating virtual wards and their functionality for people across Lancashire.
A Virtual Ward or Hospital at Home allows people to receive care at home instead of being in the hospital. They are used for acute conditions or exacerbations of chronic conditions, either as an alternative to hospital admission or to facilitate earlier discharge from the hospital.
Our report details our key findings, barriers and inequalities and recommendations for the future.
Maternity: Personalised Care and Support Planning (PCSP)
We are currently supporting the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board by promoting a Personalised Care and Support Planning survey based on maternity experiences in Lancashire.This survey will allow hospital trusts like Lancashire (including East), Blackpool and Morecambe Bay to understand the views of women across Lancashire and make vital changes to care and support to improve their maternity experience.
Find us in May
Getting out and meeting our local community is crucial to amplifying their voices. Discover all of the events we will be attending in May 2025. Come down for a chat and friendly advice👋
Discover our May Events
Patient Participation
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (MWL) is committed to engaging with patients, carers, relatives and the public to enhance the care we provide. The Patient Experience & Inclusion Team work in collaboration with patients, the public and staff to improve care, develop services and ensure our services are person-centred.
As a patient or carer you may have different views from those of healthcare staff. Your participation and involvement is important to help us make sure that our services meet your needs.
If you are interested in being involved in patient participation at MWL, please email directly [email protected] or complete the webform found using the links below:
"Every voice counts when it comes to shaping the future of services and improving them"
Share your experiences of accessing local health and care services by visiting our online Feedback Centre.