Your September e-newsletter from your local Healthwatch is here!
This month we held two (yes two!) of our very own Health and Wellbeing events in Preston and Hornby, as well as progressing our Enter and View programme and connecting with our volunteers across the County. Our management team also had a day in London to attend the Healthwatch England Leadership Conference.
Continue reading to bring yourself up to date with our highlights of the month. You can read about the impact we made to the residents of Hornby, the feedback we received in August and our Engagement Team Leaders first year at Healthwatch.
Engaging with the residents of Hornby
Through engagement of the community around the Lancaster district, particularly Hornby, several people have shared their difficulties in accessing healthcare due to living in such a rural area and having to travel into the city.
Healthwatch Lancashire decided to take services direct to the community to help raise awareness of available support and the event was a great success!
What you told us in August
Each month, we analyse the feedback we have received to get an overview of the most common themes and issues across Lancashire. This helps to inform our future engagement, highlight good practice and escalate any concerns.
During August, we received 322 pieces of feedback ranging from access to GP services to feedback about assisted living facilities.
Steve's first year at Healthwatch
Our Engagement Team Leader has been with us for a year! We sat down with Steve and looked back over the past 12 months to hear about what he has been up to, including his highlights for the year.From Enter and View visits to his work within East Lancashire, he has certainly been busy!
Read more about Steve
"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.
Meet the team
Dawn - Volunteer Coordinator
'Hello, I'm Dawn and I've been coordinating volunteering here for over a year now and lots has changed. We have 40 volunteers (we had none when I started), we have 7 different volunteering roles, we have a new volunteering database and we have started regular volunteer meet ups so volunteers can be involved with the team and our projects.
I am currently working on our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion review to ensure that the whole of Lancashire are represented amongst our volunteers
Out of all of the activity over the last year, I have enjoyed supporting volunteers the most. Seeing people increase in confidence through volunteering is very rewarding. I have met some incredible people who are now incredible volunteers!'