Working together to deliver a consistent and high performing network
Find out how you can meet the expectations of being part of the Healthwatch network
Introduction
Throughout 2022 we will be introducing new standards and ways of working to improve consistency and make it easier to be effective in what you do, both individually and collectively, without diminishing your independence about how you go about your work.
This guidance sets out what we need every local Healthwatch to do to:
- Help meet your statutory activity and build a more consistent, high performing Healthwatch network; and
- Support Healthwatch England to carry out our functions.
- Protect and enhance the reputation of Healthwatch at all levels
The guidance also aims to help you plan for how you will meet these expectations from April 2023 and operate under an updated Healthwatch trademark license issued later in 2022.
Why has this guidance been produced?
Healthwatch has come so far over our short history. We have demonstrated that it pays to listen and act on what people tell you if you want to deliver better care.
We are uniquely placed, with a Healthwatch in every area of the country, to build on this progress to help NHS and social care services plan and design care that better meets the needs of local communities.
Based on what you have told us, there is a strong consensus that we need to go further to:
- Build a more consistent Healthwatch network that can demonstrate our value to the public and our partners.
- Ensure we can have an influential voice at a national, regional and local level.
Therefore, over the next year, we will take several steps to help ensure:
- Compliance with the standards required for the use of the Healthwatch brand.
- Local Healthwatch shares information with Healthwatch England.
- Local Healthwatch can demonstrate their effectiveness and impact.
- Effective collaboration when local Healthwatch need to work together to understand and act on the experiences of people.
This guidance aims to help you understand our expectations of local Healthwatch services, remind you of your legal obligations and help you plan for any steps you may need to take over 2022-23 to meet our updated trademark license.
What do we need every Healthwatch to do?
This section tells you what we need you to do, why and how you can.
1. Adopt our common data standards and share information with us
During 2022 Healthwatch England is introducing new data standards and systems to make it easier for Healthwatch to share your information and insight.
We need you to:
- Work with us to adopt new data standards that include how we classify who we are speaking to and what they are telling us and how you share public insight with us.
- Share your information and insight with us so that we can carry out our statutory role.
Why?
- One of our key strengths is that we have a local Healthwatch in every area of the country. This means we can tell health and care policymakers who are experiencing a particular issue, and where and why this is happening. And, we can provide this strong evidence at a national, regional and local level.
- However, Healthwatch England only routinely receives information and insight from under half of local Healthwatch. And, because we do not collect demographic data and use common data standards enough, uniformly analysing this insight is challenging. It also prevents us from helping to tackle health inequalities as effectively as we can.
- Sharing data is one way that local Healthwatch meets your statutory requirement to assist Healthwatch England to carry out our function. But it’s also essential to make sure we can support you, represent you and make a difference at a national level.
- When you share reports with us we can also make sure they are available to health and social care professionals, as well as other local Healthwatch, via our national reports library.
- When they are introduced, adopting our new common data standards will also enable us to provide more powerful insight to inform national and regional health and care decisions.
How can you do this?
- You can follow our guidance and take our e learning course to help you collect demographic data.
- You can adopt the new tools we will be rolling out in 2022. These include:
- Working with you to develop a common classification system. This will take place from March-April 2022.
- New systems and processes to make data sharing easier for all Healthwatch. This will be taking place from April 2022-March 2023.
- A new data sharing agreement between us and you to underpin compliance. This will take place in April 2022.
- You can share your evidence reports and recommendations with us now by sending them to research@healthwatch.co.uk.
2. Work together to have a powerful voice
We need you to:
- Form a partnership if you are involved in work that includes other local Healthwatch.
- Agree as a partnership how you will collaborate, share data and effectively represent the different views of local people.
Why?
- Knowing how you will work together effectively, share data and represent your communities is key to making sure you influence the decisions made by NHS and social care decision makers.
- There is also an expectation that Healthwatch will play a key role in helping the NHS at all levels to listen to communities, especially those whose views are not being heard.
How can you do this?
- Start using the guidance we have produced to support collaboration, data sharing and representation within an ICS area
- Adopt the resources we will be sharing from Feb- July 2022.
3. Adopt our brand guidance and check you have key policies in place
We need you to:
- Work to the Healthwatch brand values and use our brand guidance.
- Check out our guidance on running an effective Healthwatch to make sure you have the right policies in place and meeting your statutory requirements. A range of template policies are available if you need them.
- Tell us about issues that might impact on our brand reputation.
Why?
- Our brand values emphasise listening to diverse groups and acting on what they tell us – central to our value to the communities we serve, our stakeholders and funders.
- The consistency of the service we provide and how we communicate with people shows people what we stand for, why we are relevant to them and builds trust.
- Adopting our values and following our brand guidance will help to protect and build our collective brand and reputation.
- Making sure you have the right policies in place will help you meet your statutory requirements.
- Alerting us to issues that could impact the brand or other reputation issues (e.g. service failures or data breaches) helps us support you to manage the problem and protect our shared brand.
How can you do this?
- Adopt and follow our brand guidance.
- Follow our checklist on running an effective Healthwatch
- Use our resources if you are missing key policies
- Alert your regional manager to any reputational issues.
4. Complete the Quality Framework
We need you to:
- Have completed the Quality Framework by December 2022 to demonstrate your Healthwatch’s effectiveness
Why?
- We introduced the Quality Framework to enable you to understand and demonstrate the effectiveness of your local Healthwatch.
- More than half of local Healthwatch have or are in the process of completing the Quality Framework.
- We are working with local authority commissioners to ensure the Quality Framework is incorporated into new local Healthwatch contracts.
- The information you provide helps inform the support Healthwatch England provides to you.
How can you do this?
- Commit to completing the Quality Framework on a three-yearly cycle with annual reviews of your action plans in the intervening years.
- If you have not yet started the Quality Framework, set a timeline with your Regional Manager so you can have it completed by December 2022.
5. Use our support to help you deliver and report impact
We need you to:
- Help develop and use our approaches to report your Healthwatch outcomes and impact.
- Share your impact stories and reports with us.
Why?
- Demonstrating impact is essential to Healthwatch remaining relevant and providing value to our funders.
- It builds trust with the public and our partners and makes it more likely that they will act on what the public has told us.
- Sharing your annual report helps us understand and communicate our collective impact.
How can you do this?
- Use our support to help you plan, evidence and communicate the positive changes you achieve for people in your area. For example, use our annual report template to help you tell your story and demonstrate your impact. This is will be available in April 2022.
- Share your impact with us and share your annual report with us when you publish them in June 2022.
6. Collect demographic data about our people and complete our annual survey
We need you to:
- Collect demographic data about your boards, staff and volunteers
- Complete our annual survey of local Healthwatch
Why?
- We are asking Healthwatch to collect demographic information about their Boards, staff and volunteers to gain a national picture of how Healthwatch reflect the communities we serve and how trends change over time. We have committed to this action in our equality, diversity and inclusion roadmap.
- Every year we also collect information about your local Healthwatch and your activities via an annual survey. We use the information you provide to report to Government, to inform our policy work and how we can support you.
How can you do this?
- Follow the guidance we will use to help you collect demographic data on staff, volunteers and Boards. The guidance is planned to be issued in March 2022.
- Complete the annual survey, which will include questions relating to demographic data. This is planned to take place in July 2022.
Do you have a question?
If you have a question, please do not hesitate to talk to your Regional Manager.