Healthwatch Kingston Annual Report 2021/22 - Championing what matters to you
The NHS has started to address the challenge of the waiting lists which have built up during the pandemic - at HW Kingston we are aware of the pressures on both health and social care and HW Kingston has been involved in discussions about the reshaping of services, particularly emergency care. Importantly, it has been recognised that any changes must be readily understandable to people using the service.
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Reaching out
We heard from 5,087 people who engaged with us through our projects and outreach in 2021-22. That’s a 20% increase on our previous year. People shared 28,196 experiences, views and concerns about health and social care to inform our work. We provided information and advice 23,065 times to people this year. * People often share more than one experience, view or concern.
Making a difference to health and social care
We published 11 Surveys and 16 reports about the improvements people would like to see to care services. From this we made 33 recommendations for improvements to local health and care services:
Making a difference - HW Kingston Pulse Check Programme
We launched our Pulse Check Kingston community engagement programme with an initial focus on services for Neurodiverse adults, and had further conversations with people living with Diabietes and MS. A full list of reports and recommendations can be found on page 11 of the HW Kingston Annual Report.
Community mental health
We ran a community mental health audit and published a report to inform the ‘South London Listens’ Mental Ill-health Prevention Action Plan. (see page 20).
Response to and Recovery from the Coronavirus Pandemic
HW Kingston continue to gather views and experiences of NHS and social care services during and after the coronavirus pandemic, to ensure commissioners, providers and other system leaders respond appropriately to the health and care needs of local people. We also worked with the Kingston and Richmond Post-Covid Steering Group and our Healthwatch Partners across SWL to gather the views of residents and service users, experiencing symptoms associated with Long Covid. (see page 12)
Once again, during another challenging but still incredibly busy year, I have been delighted by our collective achievements. Huge thanks! The work of HW Kingston is supported by a group of passionate staff, Board members and other volunteers that do what we do, so that we can champion what matters to you as residents. We also champion our independence. This continues to be a key platform from which we frame our work.
