I want to thank each of you for contributing over the last few months to help us explore our shared values and consider what it means to put them into action. It was inspiring to hear so many great examples in my meetings with chairs and lead officers and also in my conversations with five Healthwatch leaders, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

In case you are new or missed these discussions, I am delighted to share our five values, agreed by you, Healthwatch England staff members and our committee:

The journey so far

When we embarked on this journey last year, we committed to ensuring that our values don't become mere words on paper. It's about embodying these values in our everyday work and interactions.

Since we collectively agreed on our five values and announced them at our National Healthwatch Impact Awards event in March 2024, we have met with several of our peer network groups to discuss what we can do to turn our values into action in our different roles.

Here are a few of the fantastic ways that you are all living our shared values.

Equity

• We establish safe, inclusive spaces where everyone can share their views and value and respect the opinions of others.
• We comply with the Equality Act 2010 in all aspects of staff recruitment and care, collect demographic data, and ensure our staff continue a learning journey on equality, diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Collaboration

• We collaborate with all other local Healthwatch within our integrated care system footprint and offer feedback collectively. 
• We involve providers in projects from the start to ensure their buy-in and give recommendations the best chance of being acted upon.

Independence

• We balance our critical friend role with being a valued system partner.
• We publish our decision-making process and are clear about the involvement of laypeople and volunteers. 

Truth

• We challenge system and provider messages when they do not align with feedback from local people.
• We make sure all reports and insights have a solid evidence base.

Impact

• We track, record and promote outcomes and impact for our work. 
• We give feedback on the difference we make to people whose experiences we have gathered.

At Healthwatch England, we’re making time to reflect on how our values and behaviours shape our work, recognising that getting this right is essential to building the culture that defines, inspires, and drives us forward.

We’ve run several sessions for staff to explore how our behaviours align with our individual roles. We’ve presented some scenarios for staff to reflect on how they can apply our values and behaviours in their work and all staff objectives include application of the values and behaviours.

We’ve asked each staff member to identify at least one behaviour to discuss with their line manager during one-to-ones – something we aim to repeat throughout the year and our National Committee will be developing a charter based on these values and behaviours.

Moving forward

Although each Healthwatch is independent, with some being part of larger organisations with their own set of values, it's crucial that we can all align with a common set of values. This cohesion resonates with our funders and stakeholders, emphasising our commitment to the communities we serve. Furthermore, it demonstrates our unity as we advocate for our future sustainability. 

I'm already looking forward to our National Conference 2024, where we'll have the opportunity to reflect on these shared values.

Together, let's harness the power of our shared values to drive meaningful impact and enhance our effectiveness in serving the public.

National Conference 2024 

This year the National Conference is being held on Tuesday 12 November at the QEII Centre in central London. Register today to secure your place for a day of opportunities to hear from key speakers from the health and care sector and the chance to network, share and learn from your Healthwatch peers. 

For full details about the conference and to secure your place

Register now

Healthwatch Impact Awards 2024 

Are you proud of something you’ve achieved in the past year? For this year’s awards, we’ll be considering any project which has made life better for local people, that has been delivered individually, or in collaboration with other Healthwatch, or with other partners. The work should either have been undertaken between September 2023 and September 2024, or undertaken before that, but the improvements it has led to have been implemented between these dates. 

Awards entry is now open and the closing date is Friday 11 October.

We’ll also invite all shortlisted entries to share how they achieved change at the Healthwatch Impact Showcase Day on Thursday 13 March 2025.

What criteria do you need to address?

In no more than 500 words, please outline the difference your Healthwatch has made for people and communities. To gain maximum scores for your submission, you should address each of the criteria points below and stay within the word count for each section. The panel will not consider any information over the word count.

1. Summarise the main aims and outcomes of your piece of work.

 You should introduce your application with a summary of what the work was about and what you achieved.

Maximum word count: 30. This section is not scored.

2. Which service/s did your work relate to?

Give basic information about the area of work. 

Maximum word count: 20. This section is not scored.

3. What change was needed, and how did you identify this? 

We will score entries on: 

• A clear identification from your research/engagement work of what problem(s) existed. 
• How your wider understanding of services, and/or your connections helped you recognise the issue. 

Maximum word count: 100. This section is worth up to 10 points.

4. What did you do to achieve change? 

We will score entries on: 

• How your research/engagement activity considered people with different profiles who might have different experiences. 
• Steps you took to understand the experience of seldom heard groups. 
• How you involved people with real-life experience. 
• What conclusions you reached. 
• A succinct account of what you did to share and report your insight. 
• A considered and effective approach to influencing decision-makers. 

Maximum word count: 200. This section is worth up to 20 points.

5. How will people’s experiences of the service/s now be better, and why is that important? 

The first round of shortlisting will score entries on responses to this question alone.

We will score entries on a clear and compelling description of:

• The outcomes your Healthwatch has achieved for people’s direct experience of services.
• Awareness of reasonably anticipated wider impact on their lives. 

Maximum word count: 150. This section is worth up to 30 points.

6. Supporting evidence

Please share up to two pieces of evidence which we will take into account when scoring your application. You can include details of indicators and testimonials (written) that help confirm the improvements that you achieved. See the sections below for full details of what you need to provide.

We will score entries on how between September 2023 and September 2024 the outcomes you have described have happened and that these will be leading to people’s experience of services improving.

Maximum overall score

A total of 60 points are available for an entry. 

Other important information

•  Your entry must not be a piece of work for which you previously received a Healthwatch award.
• To be considered, your submission must be for work that demonstrates outcomes between Sept 2023 – Sept 2024, and that demonstrates achievements that are still benefiting people.
• You should submit one entry per Healthwatch. However, you can also submit a joint entry for a piece of work done in collaboration with other Healthwatch (inc ICS groupings). The same piece of work cannot be submitted twice, as a joint or individual entry. Maximum two entries in total. 
• Successful entries must include details of the tangible change this work has created for local people between the dates specified. Your entry must demonstrate how your Healthwatch has improved health or care services. Remember that the first round of shortlisting will only involve scoring entries on Question 5, ‘How will people’s experiences of the service/s be better and why is that important?’ Entries that move past that stage will then be scored on all questions.
• The panel recognise that the work you are describing could have contributed to improvements in a range of ways: improving a service's design, delivery, or quality; involving people in co-creation; reducing risks to patients; improving public information and communication; increasing the priority given to an issue by helping the system reflect on its true impact on people's lives; influencing strategy, planning, decision-making or commissioning of services. However, for your entry to be successful it’s still essential that you consider the point above and describe more specifically why what you achieved will result in people’s experience of services being better and what that improvement will be.
• The work must have been delivered under the Healthwatch brand and must be funded through core or commissioned work.
• Healthwatch providers change, but often staff and volunteers transfer to the new provider. Let us know if this is your situation, and we will take this into consideration – we want to celebrate what your team has been able to achieve.

Supporting evidence

You can upload a maximum of two pieces of evidence as part of your overall submission. We will not accept any forms of evidence apart from those detailed below.

Important information

Your evidence could be as follows, on no more than one side of A4:

• Link/s to pages of external websites of other organisations. (Please add these to a Word document and identify which criteria point or section the link relates to). 
• Statements from your commissioner or a representative from an external service partner(s).
• News article that can clearly highlight the difference you’ve made for local people.

Please note: this year, video evidence is not required and will not be taken into account as part of your evidence. 

If you include more than two pieces of evidence, only what we consider to be your first A4 page will be considered with your entry.

Closing date for applications:

The closing date for all applications is Friday 11 October.

What happens next?

A panel made up of Healthwatch England representatives and Committee members will judge the awards based on a shortlist provided to them. Find out more about the Healthwatch England Committee. 

The shortlist will be drawn up by scoring applications based on how well they met the criteria set out above, along with the two pieces of evidence provided with each entry.

• All applicants, including shortlisted entries, will be notified of the outcome on Friday 17 January.
• All shortlisted entries will then be invited to deliver a short online live session on Thursday 13 March, as part of the Healthwatch Awards Showcase Day. The day will be an opportunity for all network colleagues to attend sessions and hear from those shortlisted, and gain insight into the change being made across Healthwatch. By entering the awards, if you are shortlisted, you must be able to commit to present highlights of your entry as a short online session on Thursday 13 March 2025. 

Award winners will be announced on Thursday 13 March as part of the Impact Showcase Day, being held online.

For any queries on the awards or evidence criteria, please email the team on: annualconference@healthwatch.co.uk 

What is the annual survey?

Every year, we collect key data from every Healthwatch, which we use to inform how we can best support you, inform our national work and make the case for further investment in Healthwatch.

The data gives us an understanding of what's working on the ground for you, supports new partnerships and collaboration and contributes to the Healthwatch England annual report, which we present to Parliament.

We want all Healthwatch to complete the Annual Survey so we have an accurate picture of the network.

Deadline for completion

Please complete the survey, which should take around 30 minutes, before Monday 30 September.

We want to help you get the most out of your marketing and make an impact on your audiences. We've put together some helpful templates you can localise and adapt for your traditional or, digital marketing activities. 

1. Print templates
2. Social media templates
3. Email marketing 

Print templates

• A2/A3 Light Blue poster template
• A4 "About Us" leaflet (dark blue)
• Postcard template
• A4 Poster templates

Social media templates

Instagram feed:

• Navy blue/Light blue text card 
• Navy blue quote card
• News and reports carousel
• Overlay curve card for statistics
• Light blue advice and information carousel

Instagram stories:

• Light blue image story card
• Light blue text story card
• Navy blue image story card
• Navy blue text story card

Facebook/Twitter:

• Navy blue text post 
• Navy blue quote card
• Navy blue photo left curve 
• Navy blue photo right curve
• Light blue text post
• Light blue photo left curve
• Recruitment graphic

Email Marketing

• Email headers

As you will be aware, ensuring the sustainability of the Healthwatch network is a top priority for Healthwatch England. We know that the current model is at breaking point, with considerable variation across the network and a collective real-terms budget at less than half of what it was in 2013/14. 

We have also seen some instances where local authorities cannot award a contract due to no viable provider being willing to deliver the Healthwatch for the available funds. Of course, many Healthwatch do excellent work despite their limited resources, but they often operate with considerable uncertainty regarding their future and face challenges recruiting and retaining staff.

I want to express my thanks for the invaluable contribution made by Healthwatch in shaping our thinking on the future of Healthwatch. Over the past several months, we have engaged with over 100 Healthwatch and the same number of local authorities. We also received insightful feedback and proposals from an independent agency, Kaleidoscope, following comprehensive interviews with representatives from Healthwatch, local authorities, and integrated care boards.

Kaleidoscope's findings, recommendations and next steps

What stands out from our findings is the collective recognition of both the opportunities and challenges within the network, accompanied by a consensus on effective strategies to address them, while also acknowledging diverse perspectives. It's clear that the primary concern revolves around insufficient funding and significant disparities across the network – brought about due to lack of ring fencing.

The primary recommendation proposes that Healthwatch England should lead the commissioning of Healthwatch services. This proposal aims to achieve a fairer distribution of funding, establish longer-term contracts, and improve consistency across the network, all while safeguarding Healthwatch independence and addressing community needs. While we acknowledge that each approach has its strengths and weaknesses, we're at the very early stages of developing a model and keen to explore deeper into these proposals with your input to maximize strengths and mitigate weaknesses.

It's important to remember that these are findings and proposals. Ultimately, implementation of the main recommendation would require primary legislation, which is beyond the control of Healthwatch England. There are numerous steps to be taken along the way, including those that can be enacted without legislative change to enhance our effectiveness – again which we would like to explore further with you.

We are organising a series of further webinars (see below) to gather your feedback on these proposals, which will be instrumental in refining our strategies. During these sessions, we will also outline the next steps forward, including further engagement with you. Once again, I extend my appreciation for your invaluable input and collaboration.

How you can get involved

Following the recent conversations, we are running a series of futher sessions which will involve a short presentation on the findings and proposals, plus an opportunity for you to contribute to shaping the proposals further.

These events are for anyone in a Healthwatch (please note - those on 16 and 28 May are specifically set aside for chairs and board members) as we want to hear everyone’s views on how we can secure the future sustainability of Healthwatch.

You told us that you would find it helpful if we grouped our learning and development offer into pathways linked to key Healthwatch roles and responsibilities.

There are some core activities that all local Healthwatch must do.  These will be carried out by different people in each local Healthwatch, so we have focused on activities rather than job titles.  We have a range of training, peer networks, guidance, and e-learning courses to help you develop your skills and build your confidence in these areas.  The activities are: 

• Welcome to Healthwatch 
• Providing information and advice to the public 
• Gathering views from the public 
• Making views known and using them to improve services 
• Reaching people and communicating the difference we make  
• Managing volunteers 
• Running a Healthwatch  

How to use the framework 

There is a page for each core activity with the keys skills you need to carry them out and the learning opportunities that will help you. New members of staff or volunteers may want to complete the whole pathway, more experienced people may just want to plug gaps in their learning.  

Everyone learns differently so we have colour coded the different learning opportunities so you can choose which suits you best. Where there are several learning opportunities next to a skill, you can choose which suits you best and do as many as you wish.  The links will take you straight to the session to book, the e-learning course or the resource to download.   

From left to right you will see webinars, e-learning courses, peer network meetings, guidance documents then bespoke support.  This is not in any priority order, just for ease of reading.