Healthwatch England publishes our network's Annual Report 2020-21
England faces enormous health and social care challenges. Find out in this Annual Report how feedback from Healthwatch Kingston, and other local Healthwatch has helped NHS and social care services improve care plans for the future.
Highlights
In 2020-21, Healthwatch supported more than two million people to have their say on care and get the right advice.
Download the report here.
Ten differences Healthwatch has made
- From running advice lines to delivering medicines, our 3,700 volunteers helped combat COVID-19 across England.
- Thanks to your feedback, we quickly alerted regulators about care homes using ‘Do not attempt to resuscitate’ forms without consent.
- Fifty-four thousand people came forward in response to our campaign, which aimed to get the public talking about health and care issues they faced so services could be alerted.
- With online appointments becoming the norm, we use your stories to develop advice that helps more professionals and patients get the most out of digital consultations.
- When the public was worried about how the NHS would use their GP data, we helped prevent issues by advising the NHS to be more transparent and give people more time to opt-out.
- Teaming up with the British Red Cross, we called for improvements to make leaving the hospital safer during the pandemic. The harrowing stories that people shared with us about being discharged with little or no support led to new Government guidance to ensure this does not happen again.
- We urged the Government to act after reporting a 452% increase in people struggling to see an NHS dentist. Although reform takes time, the Government asked dental practices to maintain accurate information online in response to our recommendations.
- With the COVID-19 vaccination programme starting, we talked to different communities to understand their concerns and the steps the NHS can take to improve people's confidence in public health communications.
- Within weeks of the launch of NHS 111 First, which allowed people to book A&E appointments, we provided rapid feedback to help identify teething issues and the need for greater public awareness.
- When the public struggled to see their GP face-to-face, we asked the NHS to confirm this right for all patients.
