In response, we seconded Nichola Esmond, then Chief Officer with Healthwatch Wakefield, to develop a Quality Framework to provide a shared understanding between Healthwatch providers, local authority commissioners and Healthwatch England of the ingredients of an effective Healthwatch.
The framework consists of six domains:
- Leadership and Governance acknowledges the importance of having clear goals and a rationale for our work priorities, which is vital given our wide remit and challenging resources. Strong leadership and governance help us navigate a complex environment whilst maintaining our independence and accountability.
- The People domain recognises the key resource of Healthwatch: its Board/Advisory Group members, staff and volunteers who need the right knowledge, skills and support to deliver an effective, consistent Healthwatch service.
- Sustainability and Resilience focuses on a business model that enables Healthwatch to plan and operate effectively, as well as adapt to the changing needs of the people we serve.
- The Collaboration domain recognises the value of working collaboratively and in partnership, and of learning from other Healthwatch.
- Engagement, Involvement and Reach focuses on the main statutory activities: how we go about reaching out to all sections of our community, gathering people’s views, providing advice and information and involving people in our work.
- Finally, Influence and Impact focuses on our purpose: the difference we make by ensuring those in charge of health and care services hear people's voices and that their views shape the support they need.
The framework has been designed to be used on a self-assessment basis. Each domain consists of a series of questions and prompts where Healthwatch are asked to comment and provide evidence to demonstrate their effectiveness.
Over the past four months, Healthwatch have been testing the framework. Some have used it as part of their annual review and business planning process, bringing together Board/Advisory group members, staff and volunteers to reflect on and celebrate their effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. Others have used the opportunity of a new contract to think about what they need to put in place to be effective. There are Healthwatch who have met with their local authority commissioners to use it as part of their contract monitoring process. Some commissioners have specified the use of the Quality Framework in new contracts, having heard our plans for full rollout in 2020/21.
At Healthwatch England we’re looking to develop tools to help you use the framework. First up is the Making a Difference Toolkit, created following a request from local Healthwatch, this has been designed to help you demonstrate the impact you’re making. We also intend to analyse all the completed Quality Frameworks to understand the overall effectiveness of our network, inform our support offer and target our resources. We also plan to design our learning and development offer around the framework, identifying and sharing best practice from the network.
We’re grateful to the Healthwatch and local authorities who have helped develop and test the framework over the last four months. We now want to pilot its implementation and are looking for about 30 Healthwatch to complete the Quality Framework with evidence before March 2020. We will be offering 1-2-1 support to help you complete it, as well as consulting at Conference on any other support you might need.
If you are interested in hearing more or would like to be considered as part of the implementation pilot, please get in touch with your regional manager (Olly Grice, Alvin Kinch or Julie Turner). In the meantime, take a look at this one pager for more information about the Quality Framework.
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