About this resource

It is important that when a new provider takes over a local Healthwatch contract, the public continue to receive an uninterrupted service and there is no reputational risk to the Healthwatch brand.

This guidance aims to help both outgoing and incoming providers understand their responsibilities, and how they should work together to hand over key information and assets.

It includes advice on:

• Ensuring smooth communication
• Local Healthwatch's legal requirements
• Work priorities and delivery
• Who owns data
• How to access resources

Our article helps you to understand things to consider when it comes to funding your local Healthwatch and staff members during the pandemic.

Funding your service

Your funding from local government

The Government has issued guidance for public bodies on payment of their suppliers to ensure service continuity during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

This includes the requirement that all contracting councils should urgently review their contract portfolio. All suppliers who they believe are at risk must be informed that they will continue to be paid as normal until at least the end of June. This includes cases where service delivery is disrupted or has been suspended.

The guidance emphasises the importance of putting in measures to support the cash flow of supplier and the importance of making payments on time.

Unfortunately, the guidance does not apply to grants and only covers contracts for good and services.

What if my contract is coming to an end?

The Government have issued guidance to public bodies including councils which enables them to take a more flexible approach during this crisis. For example, they have the option to extend or vary contracts.

How can I access emergency funding?

The Charity Bank has put together a list of emergency funds for charities and social enterprises that are experiencing difficulties. It will be updated as new opportunities are identified.

Grants are being issued to some charities to help sustain services. You can view data statistics on what is being funded by grant givers in response to COVID-19 on 360 Giving.

What if I have non statutory funding from another source to deliver work?

It is important to talk to your funders about the impact COVID-19 may have on your work and negotiate a way forward. Many funders have already publicly recognised that funding related outputs and outcomes and reporting deadlines may not be met and that services may need to be delivered differently. 

The implications of your legal structure

Whether you are a charity or a community interest company, guidance is available to help you think through the implications that are specific to your legal structure.

Guidance for Charities

The Charity Commission has produced guidance to help with running your charity during COVID-19. This answers the most commonly asked questions and helps trustees to be aware of and think about the wider or longer impact of decisions on your charity.

Guidance includes:

• Use of reserves and restricted funds if facing financial problems.

• Holding AGMs and meetings by phone or online.

• Reporting of serious incidents to the Charity Commission.

Guidance for Community Interest Companies

The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (CICs) has produced guidance for Community Interest Companies affected by COVID-19. This includes information on applying for an extension if you are unable to file your accounts and Annual Report by the required deadline.

Looking after staff members 

With people working from home or off sick, advice have been produced about some of the implications that COVID-19 could have. 

Employees' rights and sick leave entitlements

NCVO has guidance covering employees’ rights and sick leave entitlements.

This refers to guidance from ACAS which covers relief to reclaim statutory sick pay paid to employees for sickness absence due to COVID-19. It also includes other useful advice on vulnerable people and those at high risk, time off work to look after someone, and good practice steps.

Home working expenses and tax implications

HMRC has produced guidance on which expenses are taxable if your employees are working from home due to COVID-19, covering equipment, services or supplies, including broadband, laptops and utilities.

What is online engagement?

Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, you may be thinking about using online or other remote methods of engagement. While we know that this approach won’t work for everyone, there may be some people in your community who can, or can be supported to, engage with you in this way.

There are different ways you can engage people online. This includes:

• Surveys
• Focus groups using video conferencing apps like Skype, Teams or Zoom
• Interviews
• Polls on social media or your website

What should you think about when planning online engagement?

1. Can you protect people's personal information and make sure you have their permission?

Will people’s personal details, such as their phone number or email address, be shared differently through this engagement? If you’re engaging with multiple people at the same time, for example using virtual meeting spaces, will people be able to see each other’s details? How will you make sure they are aware of this and get their permission?

2. How will you continue to make sure people’s information is stored securely and in line with GDPR?

Think about who will have access to this information – including people’s contact details, IP address, and any digital recordings (where relevant). Do you have the appropriate measures in place to store this information securely? 

Read our data protection advice and guidance

3. Who are you not engaging with for now?

Not everyone is online or wants to engage with you this way. Often this means the most vulnerable groups in our communities are missing out on very important support or their opportunity to have their say. Think about how you can reach these people, for example, partnering with a local organisation in touch with these groups. 

Also, think about your future engagement plans and how you can include those unable to participate remotely – once it’s safe and appropriate to do so.

About this resource

This guide explains the statutory requirements for Healthwatch and sets out good governance principles when it comes to delivering a Healthwatch service.

The guide aims to provide you with key areas of focus, recommended best practice, as well as links to other legislation and resources that you will need for your Healthwatch.

It includes:

• What legislation says about Healthwatch
• Setting up a Healthwatch
• Governance and decision making
• Practical steps when running a Healthwatch
• How to meet your obligations
• Key legislation you need to follow
• A Quick Reference Guide (appendix) outlining the set of policies that help your Healthwatch comply with its statutory and regulatory requirements and underpin the brand

Please note that this guide was last updated on 26 April 2021 and is subject to change.

Why should I use email marketing?

It's important to think of email marketing as just one element of the marketing mix – to use it alongside other channels, not in isolation. It can be a great way to reach people that are interested in your work, and form/strengthen the relationships you have with them. 

Email marketing can be a great way to:​

• Encourage people to act – e.g. sign up to events, share views, or download reports​

• Keep people up to date with news, new publications, advice and information, events

• Drive traffic to your website where they can find out more

Who can I email?

GDPR means that you need to have active consent from someone before you're able to email them. ​Take a look at our guidance on GDPR.

Here's how you can build your mailing lists:

• Encourage people to sign up on social​ media.
• Promote the signup form on your website​.
• Contact people on your database to ask them if they'd like to hear more in the future​.
• Ask other local organisations to promote your work e.g. social media and/or include in their own newsletter via their channels .
• Add it onto your form when you are out engaging people at events. Ask them if they want to stay in touch and sign up to your newsletter.

Top tips

Make your copy simple and engaging

• Your email should always have a purpose and have a clear call to action. It should be obvious to the reader what you want them to do with the information that you're sharing with them.
• Short summaries that link through to articles and other content on your website work well. They also: ​

1. Increase traffic to your site.
2. Let your subscribers easily share your content via social media, helping you reach larger audiences.
3. Make it easier to scan for those who are reading their emails on mobile or tablet devices.

• Making it short and visually engaging is key to keeping people's interest and getting them to take the action you want them to.

Consider the frequency of your emails

• Make you don't email too often. Overwhelming people with emails can lead to them unsubscribing.​
• In our experience, once a week works well, with a mid-week email getting the best response with regards to open rates. Make sure you test this locally to see if it's the same for you. Different audiences may have different responses, so make sure you test against each audience.

Test test test

• As always, we suggest testing to see what works best for you. There are a few factors you can test when it comes to email marketing, including: 
   - the time of day you send the email
   - the day of the week
   - the subject line you use
   - the way content appears

Reuse your content 

• You can use the themes from your emails to theme your social media content. Use the short descriptions from articles for your social media posts. 

We've put together a webinar recording on how to create:

• Standard blocks 
• Video blocks
• Image blocks 

As well as this we also have written guidance for you to follow. 

What is the difference between a page and an article?

An article is for content that fits under the following content types:

• News
• Blog
• Response
• Advice and information
• Report

Articles are often to showcase new pieces of news or work that your Healthwatch has been involved in. They are more fluid than pages and a lot simpler to create. Paragraph types are used here to help break up your content.  

The main purpose of a page is to bring information together in one place. For example, if you have a key project that has a number of areas e.g. resources, a report, facts and figures, you might want to showcase this information as a page.

Here is an example of a page that we created at Healthwatch England to present our materials on COVID-19. 

Health and homelessness

Ill health can be both a cause and result of homelessness.

The health and wellbeing of people who experience homelessness are poorer than that of the general population. They often experience the most significant health inequalities. The longer a person experiences homelessness, the more likely their health and wellbeing will be at risk.

Role of professionals

Working with other services, NHS professionals can play an important role in helping to:

• identify and prevent homelessness,
• reduce the effect on health that homelessness can cause, and
• make sure that poor health does prevent those who are experiencing homelessness moving on to a home of their own.

What is the Duty to Refer?

Since April 2018, public bodies - like hospitals, job centres and prisons - have had to tell a local housing authority if they identify someone who they believe is currently homeless or may be threatened with homelessness within 56 days. 

For the NHS, the Duty to Refer applies to all emergency departments, urgent treatment centres and hospitals providing inpatient care.

The notification, which requires the consent of an individual, aims to help people get access to homelessness services as soon as possible.

Questions to ask your NHS

It is important that your NHS knows the steps they can take when they come into contact with someone who is homeless or is facing homelessness.

Here is a set of questions you can ask your NHS to help highlight the importance of tackling homelessness.

1. Are you aware of the 'Duty to Refer' which came into force in October 2018?
2. Are you aware of the need for certain health services to refer someone, with the patient’s permission, to the local authority housing team if they are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless in the next 56 days?
3. Housing is as a key determinant of health. As part of a person-centred approach, what steps are you taking to understand your patients’ housing situation and to support recovery when their housing status is affecting their health?
4. Do you discharge patients from inpatient services without a home or address to go to? If so, how do you monitor this and make sure plans are put in place before discharge to support recovery and reduce the risk of harm and readmission?
5. How are the deaths of people sleeping rough investigated? Is this in the same way as any other unexpected death that happens elsewhere in the community or statutory services?
6. How does your work with people experiencing homelessness safeguard them and reduce the risk of them experiencing abuse?
7. Are you confident your staff are aware of the causes and impact of homelessness and their duties under homelessness legislation?
8. What considerations have made in your policies and plans to help reduce homelessness and the impact of homelessness?

These questions were developed by Shared Ventures who, as part of the Keep Well Collaborative, have developed a fuller briefing for local Healthwatch to help you understand the role you can play in helping to tackle homelessness in your area.

Download the briefing

About the resources

At this event Healthwatch came together to:

• share experiences of involving young people in our work
• discuss how to best involve young people in research, engagement and volunteering
• hear from NHS England and NHS Youth Forum.

You can now download all the slides and notes from the day. 

We’re here to find out what matters to people, and help make sure their views shape the support they need.

To help make sure that we are accessible and clear to everyone, we have put together some easy read guides that help explain our role and what we do. 

Feel free to download and place on your own site. They would make a great addition to your 'About us' section.

Our work is driven by the belief that understanding local people’s experiences of health and care is key to providing effective support. A belief that is backed up by a considerable body of evidence.

We have been set up to find out the public’s views on health and care.

How we achieve this goal may vary from area to area but, whatever our approach, every Healthwatch is committed to making a difference.

Why showing impact matters

Demonstrating that we are making a difference is key because:

• It shows local people that sharing their experiences with us is worthwhile.
• It increases the trust of local partners and makes it more likely they will act on what we recommend and what the public has told us
• It demonstrates to taxpayers and our funders that we provide value for money and our work is worthy of investment.

Who is this toolkit for?

Healthwatch staff or volunteers who:

• Want to improve their knowledge and understanding of Theory of Change
• Are involved in helping their Healthwatch establish an approach to evidencing and communicating your impact

What will you learn?

This toolkit aims to deliver the following learning:

• Why demonstrating impact is important
• An introduction to outcomes and the Theory of Change
• Setting priorities and how they link to outcomes
• Steps you need to take to develop your a Theory of Change
• How you might use a Theory of Change to communicate effectively
• How to involve your board, volunteers and other colleagues