The Annual Survey is now live

Network News - 2 September 2024

Building a stronger Healthwatch.
Two women and one man standing in a semi-circle having a conversation in a community hall.

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.

The survey is available on SmartSurvey.

Please note that when completing the survey with your data, you will have the option to save and continue later. 

The annual survey is for data up to and inc 31 March 2024. 

You can prepare your answers in advance, and the questions are available to download in PDF format, using the link below.

Complete the survey

Downloads

Annual Survey 2024 - questions template to download
Download (PDF 187 KB)

Conversations about impact - your perspectives

Blog - 29 July 2024

In this six-minute read, Jon Turner talks with four Healthwatch leaders who have worked with their teams to develop a strong approach to impact.
A female nurse talking to a patient in a hospital setting

Over the first few months of 2024, I talked to four local Healthwatch leaders about their approach to achieving impact. Some key themes emerged from what they told me. 

The leaders were:

  • Joanna Smith, Manager of Healthwatch Isle of Wight, who has been with the Healthwatch for almost ten years.
  • Joy Beishon, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Greenwich, who has been in the service for five years.
  • Diane Blair, Manager of Healthwatch Sefton, who has been in the service since its inception.
  • Amy Salt, Engagement and Involvement Manager at Healthwatch Derbyshire, who has been in post for just over one year. 

Theme 1: Our Healthwatch team believes that we exist to achieve change for local people. 

 

Joanna: The nature of our area means the team are very aware of being accountable to residents, as people we know often ask us what we’ve achieved. 

It’s so important to ensure the team has a wide outlook so that not only can they talk and engage with people, but they can also analyse what they’re hearing, spot trends and report in a way that encourages solutions. 

Joy: Our team is focused on achieving tangible improvements and fostering greater equity for our residents. We recognise that our role is not just about gathering insights but translating those insights into real, actionable change. This means we are constantly analysing feedback and insight, identifying trends, and advocating for solutions that directly address the needs and concerns of our community. 

Diane: The team shifted its view of who we are accountable to. Instead of seeing our main responsibility as being to provide system partners with insight, we now focus more on ensuring that residents’ insight shared with system partners is acted on and that residents are then updated with any actions and/or changes. 

If a member of the public asks what we’ve achieved, we shouldn’t struggle to give a clear answer! 

Amy: We know how important it is to close the loop. Going out and collecting feedback is just one element of what we do. It’s vital that we maintain strong relationships by informing the public about what’s happened with their feedback. This encourages people to keep speaking with us and view us as reputable and purposeful. 

Theme 2: We see reports and recommendations as a means to an end. 

 

Joanna: Engagement activities are essential and can be really fulfilling.  They’re backed up by report writing. But all that’s only meaningful if we then try our hardest to use what we’ve got to seek improvements. 

Joy: It's much easier to write a report and then move on. The real challenge — and where we can make a difference — is in the follow-up and ensuring that our recommendations lead to actual change. This means not just identifying areas for improvement but actively engaging with stakeholders, advocating for our recommendations, and tracking the implementation process. 

We tailor our approach to gain leverage depending on the context and the needs of the issue at hand. Our reports are the starting point of a larger journey towards improvement, not the endpoint. 

Diane: In the past, our ethos was that responsibility stopped at the point of producing our report. We worked in a way that assumed that recommendations would be picked up and didn’t do much follow-up to check what happened. We saw this as the Healthwatch role and seamlessly moved on to the next piece of work. Now, the team make more space at meetings to plan for outcomes, and we have systems in place to follow up. 

Amy: By using Theory of Change in our planning we can agree how to make best use of reports and other approaches to take forward particular themes. Sometimes for example we’ll decide we’re more likely to achieve outcomes by making a direct connection with a service commissioner, producing a guide or infographic, or feeding raw data into an external strategy that’s already in development. 

Theme 3: We’ve put a lot of time into developing an approach to influencing that works in our local context. 

 

Joanna: We’ve gained agreement that all reports go to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and they require providers and commissioners to report back. This not only helps achieve outcomes but also evidence them. 

At the start of a piece of work, we get buy-in by hearing what all interested parties think and want to know. We see part of our role as being to link service users and decision-makers together to create solutions. We find this is much more likely to lead to useful outcomes being implemented. 

Whilst we sit on the highest-level committees and groups, we understand that these are for relationship building and to be seen as a partner. The real achievements are gained at meetings and groups a tier below those. 

Joy: We do our best to ensure that key decision-makers fully grasp the importance of our role and the connections we maintain with various parts of the system, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC). It’s important for our stakeholders to understand our statutory right to publish information and our duty to maintain transparency with the public. We always make it clear that our intent is to support and improve the system. 

Some stakeholders occasionally perceive our relationship as somewhat adversarial, but we remind them of our role as a critical friend to provide constructive feedback aimed at driving positive change. We emphasise that while our findings may sometimes be challenging to hear, they are crucial for fostering improvement and that we are committed to working together and supporting the system to find solutions. 

Diane: We always aim to make our positive intent clear to system partners. We explain at the start of a piece of work that they might not like everything they hear later on, but Healthwatch will work with them to find solutions, too. We also ask them what they’d find useful from a planned piece of work. 

We send any reports to the most senior system partners and leave it to them to cascade down their own organisation as appropriate. They seem to appreciate this and maybe it even gives them a rare chance to find out what’s really happening on the ground. 

Amy: Once we’ve decided on a project, we ensure we form strong connections with providers, commissioners and any other groups involved in relevant decision-making. Once we have their "buy-in", we discuss what could be changed, potential information they’d be interested in knowing about and what’s already been done. They can help co-produce the piece of work with us. It’s then much easier to follow up with them later about changes that have been achieved. 

If attempts to get the provider on board with the project don’t succeed, then we decide as a team whether we’ll do the project or not. We might decide it’s important enough to go ahead anyway. However, it can be harder to get outcomes this way. 

Theme 4: We’re careful to maintain our sense of independence. 

 

Joanna: We’re very strict on avoiding any situations that might call into question our independence and impartiality. It’s important to be beyond reproach. 

Joy: We find that participating in 'top table' meetings is highly effective. These forums allow us to be seen as trusted and safe participants in critical discussions that we might otherwise be excluded from. However, it's crucial to remain vigilant and not become overly enamoured with the prestige of interacting at a senior level just for the sake of it. Our primary focus is always on the value we bring to these discussions. We continually assess the purpose and productivity of our involvement, which means not hesitating to step back from meetings that do not serve a clear, beneficial purpose for our objectives. 

Diane: Over time, I've become more motivated by the insight I'm bringing to a senior meeting rather than a bit flattered just to be there. If a meeting isn’t a good use of time in some way, then we’ll stop attending. 

Amy: We’re clear about our independence in all our work. System partners regularly tell us that’s why they value our feedback - because we tend to get a more honest response from the public. 

At engagement events, we make it clear to people that we’re independent and are there to give them a route for feedback. This is even more important when people haven’t been able to reach a provider themselves or don’t feel listened to. 

Theme 5: We use Healthwatch England resources. 

 

Joanna: The Impact Tracker has hugely developed our approach to following up. 

Joy: The Impact Tracker is an invaluable tool for our team. It's increased our ability to follow up on projects and track progress. However, its effectiveness hinges on having someone in the team responsible for consistently populating and updating it.  

The Annual Report template has hugely improved over the past few years. It’s now more outcome-focused and makes us think even more about tangible results and impact. 

Diane: The training on impact and theory of change was a turning point for the team, making everyone stop and rethink who they were accountable to and what the point of Healthwatch work was. It wasn’t an easy shift of mindset at the start, but is now business as usual. 

Our communications about our work used to be more of a descriptive narrative about the process, but we now concentrate much more on what's been achieved. 

Amy: The theory of change training allowed our team to think about how we approach new pieces of work. Using this makes a big difference, not only with outcomes and impact but also by ensuring the team all share an understanding of the purpose of a piece of work. 

Impact program manager Jon Turner

A huge thanks to all four for taking the time to share their valuable perspectives and insights with me. 

 

A discussion with your own Healthwatch team about the points covered here could be interesting. Do let me know if you do that and what conclusions you reach. 

Jon. 

Stakeholder Perceptions Survey: Template for local Healthwatch

Guidance - 7 May 2024

We have created a stakeholder perceptions survey so you can find out what partners think your Healthwatch’s strengths and areas for development are.
Three women sitting around a table looking at paperwork

Healthwatch need strong working relationships and influence with key individuals within stakeholder organisations to make a difference for residents. 

This stakeholder perceptions survey allows you to evidence your Healthwatch’s strengths and areas for development in stakeholder relations with key health and social care, local authority, and non-profit sector professionals.

The survey template has been shared on SmartSurvey with all local Healthwatch accounts provided through Healthwatch England. 

The guidance on using the survey provided here includes a copy of all survey questions and accompanying text so you can create the survey on another platform if necessary.

The conclusions you reach from your survey can form the starting point for you to produce a stakeholder influencing plan. This plan can include a set of priority actions that you will take to ensure you:

  • maintain and build on the strengths you’ve identified where stakeholders agreed that statements applied to you;
  • address areas where stakeholders didn’t sufficiently often agree that the statement applied to you. 

Downloads

Stakeholder Perceptions Survey Template (Word document)
Download (OCX 514 KB)

Healthwatch Greenwich and Healthwatch Rutland kindly supported this project by piloting the survey with their local stakeholders. Both found the process led to very useful findings.

Securing the future sustainability of Healthwatch

Blog - 12 April 2024

In a new blog, Gavin Macgregor, Head of Network Development, outlines what you told us during a series of webinars focusing on the future sustainability of Healthwatch and talks about the next steps in this vital area of work.
Two people smiling and talking at a Healthwatch event

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.

Sign up to one of our events:

New report paints a picture of network trends

Network News - 7 March 2024

Read our new report looking at recent issues, challenges and opportunities faced by Healthwatch across England.
People chatting with each other around a table

'The Healthwatch Network: A National Picture of Key Trends' highlights that while impact and income generation have increased and many more Healthwatch are sharing data, variation means it's hard to compare activity levels and core funding has experienced a real-terms cut. 

In the report, we also consolidate key information we collect from the Healthwatch network to look at key areas including: 

  • Demonstrating impact
  • Relationships with integrated care systems and the Care Quality Commission
  • Funding and commissioning
  • Colloaboration and current/future priorities

We highlight some of the diverse outcomes Healthwatch across the country have achieved, including making services more accessible, helping to expose safety concerns and improving access to dental appointments. 

We also use the report to explain what we are doing, and what more you as the Healthwatch network could be doing, to further help each other and the communities we serve. 

Downloads

Download the full report
Download (PDF 207 KB)

Update on Network Support from Healthwatch England

Blog - 4 August 2023

Gavin Macgregor explains how Healthwatch England plans to streamline and improve the support it provides to the Healthwatch network.
A male and female in conversation at an indoor community event. His back is to the camera, she is smiling at the camera. A Healthwatch banner and map of the local area are in the background.

Over the past few months, I have spoken at regional forums and other events about some of the changes we propose to make in how we work with local Healthwatch. These changes follow on from what we shared with you in Our Future Focus and in my last blog with Louise Ansari.

In proposing these changes, we're keeping in mind the priorities you shared with us:

  • Reducing the asks we make of you.
  • Having a better understanding and making the most of local Healthwatch achievements.
  • Improving two-way communication.

Here’s what I’m covering and what they mean for your Healthwatch:

  1. Demonstrating your value – advance notice of the questions in the annual survey, which we will ask you to complete in September 2023.
  2. Understanding the diversity of Healthwatch – advance notice that we will be asking you to complete a survey on the demographic profile of your Healthwatch in November 2023. In the meantime, we are providing a template to help you collect this information.
  3. Sharing your accomplishments – we’re busy analysing your annual reports, and we want you to continue to share the difference you make.
  4. Working with the Care Quality Commission – we’re supporting Healthwatch with the new approach to assessing local authorities and Integrated Care Systems.
  5. Quality Framework – we’re continuing to support Healthwatch who want to undertake the Quality Framework and have introduced a badge for those Healthwatch who have completed it.
  6. Check-in with your Regional Manager – we’re encouraging all Healthwatch to have, at least, an annual check-in to understand your support needs.
  7. Integrated Care Systems – a new ICS Healthwatch Representatives network is holding its first meeting on 12 October.
  8. Data sharing – just a big thanks to for everyone sharing your data, including demographic data.

Demonstrating your value

In response to your feedback, this year we have reduced the number of questions in the annual survey.

Click here to see what data we intend to collect in the annual survey in September.

Our annual report, which is presented to Parliament, makes the case for investment in Healthwatch and supports the National Committee with their statutory role in ensuring Healthwatch activities are carried out properly.

Understanding the diversity of Healthwatch

In our last blog, we asked for your help to significantly improve the response rate to our Healthwatch People Diversity Survey, as the response rate was less than 40% in 2022.

We said we would send you the questions in advance, which you can view here.

This year we are asking for data on the combined total of your staff, volunteers and Board. The data you provide will be anonymous and not linked to your individual Healthwatch – but we will ask whether your Healthwatch has completed the survey using a linked but separate survey.

If you currently do not have the required data on the demographic composition of your staff, volunteers and Board/Advisory Board members, you can use the Healthwatch Diversity Survey template which is available on this page and in SMART Survey if you have an account. Go to ‘My Surveys’ in SMART Survey, make a copy and then you can send this to your staff, volunteers and Board members.

Given that Healthwatch advocate for health equity, it is important that we strive to reflect the communities we serve. Our training programme includes support for Healthwatch on improving volunteer and Board diversity. We want to track whether these and other measures that individual Healthwatch are taking are making a difference. We'll report the results back to the network.

Sharing your accomplishments

You told us we should make better use of your stories of change – to support raising our profile, demonstrating what Healthwatch have achieved and sharing what's working with Healthwatch and our external stakeholders.

We're currently analysing all of your annual reports to get a picture of the individual and collective impact of Healthwatch. We'll draw on your examples to support our national work and share them in forthcoming newsletters.

Please also start using our new Impact Tracker or the simplified sheet to tell us about the difference you’re making on an ongoing basis. The more of your recent success stories available to promote and talk to national stakeholders about, the better.

Working with the Care Quality Commission

You may be aware that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are piloting how they will assess local authorities and Integrated Care Systems. Healthwatch England is working with CQC to support local Healthwatch in the pilot areas which will be evaluated. We will share learnings from the pilots with Healthwatch so you know what to expect and how CQC will engage with you.

You will have a dedicated point of contact within CQC, but be aware that  some posts are yet to be filled. If you are unsure who to contact at CQC, please get in touch with your Regional Manager.

Quality Framework

Demonstrating your effectiveness is never more important than in difficult financial times. Over three quarters of Healthwatch have now completed the Quality Framework - with 50 in the last year.

We’re continuing to support Healthwatch who want to undertake the self-assessment process. Some have used the process to help prepare for a tender process, while others have used it in preparation for a new strategy. We’ve seen several Healthwatch use it to consider how they apply equality, diversity and inclusion across their work. We’re recommending Healthwatch complete it every three years.

Analysis of completed Quality Frameworks demonstrates many strengths, including reaching and engaging with people facing the greatest health inequalities and managing people. Healthwatch reported challenges with the role of Boards/Advisory Boards who support the governance and decision-making of Healthwatch and meeting the statutory requirement for transparency in our work. In response, we developed an extensive programme to support your boards with recruitment and self-appraisals, from which we developed guidance for both hosted and standalone Healthwatch.  

We’ve made it easier to complete using the improved Smart Survey format, which we expect all Healthwatch to use after December 2023.

We’re introducing a badge so your Healthwatch can demonstrate your commitment to improvement. This could be displayed on your website footer, email signature or other appropriate materials. If you are eligible, you will receive an offer directly.

Check-in with your Regional Manager

We encourage all Healthwatch to have at least an annual check-in with their Regional Manager. We use these meetings to check if you have any support needs and talk through the Quality Framework if you have recently completed it. It’s a really important opportunity for us to make sure we understand your needs so we can inform our national work and how we can best support you.

Integrated Care Systems

In response to requests from Healthwatch, we are establishing a network for Healthwatch ICS Representatives, with the first meeting taking place on 12 October. For ICS areas with more than one Healthwatch, you will need to decide among yourselves who will represent your area. You can sign up here.

Data sharing

Local Healthwatch tell us that our new Data Sharing Platform is easy to use. Between April and June, 21,839 pieces of feedback were shared with us by 54 Healthwatch from 28 ICS areas. We’re in the process of onboarding the remaining Healthwatch and supporting you to regularly share your data.

We are also seeing a welcome increase in demographic data, which helps our analysis and enables us to highlight where the health and care system needs to listen better and take further action, including on tackling inequalities.

A big thank you to everyone for helping us; keep sharing your data and reach out if you need any help: DataSharing@Healthwatch.co.uk.

Annual Satisfaction Survey and Healthwatch People Diversity Survey

Guidance - 4 August 2023

As part of our ongoing commitment to enhance the effectiveness of our support to you and promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), we are asking each Healthwatch to complete the Annual Satisfaction Survey and Healthwatch People Diversity Survey.

  1. Annual Satisfaction Survey 

    Every year, your insights have been instrumental in shaping our support to Healthwatch. This year, we are requesting each Healthwatch to complete the satisfaction survey responses on behalf of your organisation. This survey will provide a comprehensive understanding of the views and experiences of your staff, volunteers, and board members collectively, helping us to learn and tailor our support to better meet your needs. 

 

  1. Healthwatch People Diversity Survey. 

    As part of our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, set out in our Roadmap, we collect data about the demographic profile of Healthwatch staff, volunteers, and Board/Advisory board members. We use the data to help us track the extent to which we reflect the communities we serve and whether the measures taken by individual Healthwatch together with the training provided by Healthwatch England are making a difference. You can view and download the questions below.

The single survey is made up of two parts for your convenience and efficiency. Both sets of information will need to be uploaded together. You can access the template survey, and it is also available in SMART survey to copy and download and use for those Healthwatch with a licence.

To upload your data, please go to this link. Survey responses are needed by 28 February 2024. 

 

Downloads

Template for Healthwatch Diversity Survey
Download (OCX 95 KB)

Impact Assistant Volunteer – Guidance and role profile

Guidance - 17 July 2023

Introducing this new volunteering opportunity could help your Healthwatch increase its capacity to record, track and follow up on outcomes.
Two women sitting on a bench. They are in a town centre on a sunny day. The woman on the left is wearing a red top. The woman on the right is smiling, wearing sunglasses and wearing a light blue top with Healthwatch logo.

Healthwatch are increasingly focussing on planning for, identifying and communicating outcomes and impact achieved for people who use health and care services. This contributes to ensuring your organisation's financial stability and increases support from members of the community.

About this resource

Recruiting a volunteer to take on responsibilities relating to monitoring outcomes can help give this work a greater profile within your Healthwatch. In particular, the role could provide additional capacity to update the Impact Tracker and liaise with other team members to check on how different areas of work and opportunities to influence are progressing.

This document provides guidance and tips on introducing an Impact Assistant volunteer role. It includes a suggested role profile.

The profile for this role has been developed so that it can be adapted to meet your specific local needs. Create your own role description by using whichever of the listed activities you feel will be most useful for your team.

In a competitive volunteering marketplace, Impact Assistant could be an attractive and unique volunteering role for the right person.

Link to other resources

This guidance and role profile is an addition to our other volunteer role descriptions, which are available for you to use and adapt.

Downloads

Impact Assistant Volunteer - Guidance and role profile
Download (OCX 370 KB)

Annual report template 2022 - 23

Guidance - 3 April 2023

Download the new annual report template to showcase how your work has made a difference to local people.
A diverse group of colleagues speak to each other in a modern office space

It's a legal requirement for your local Healthwatch to produce an annual report by the end of June. To help you do this, use our template, which is available in PowerPoint and InDesign formats on the Communications Centre (Brandstencil).

The template includes a branded design, as well as guidance on how to complete your report, what to change and what you need to include in your report.

Please note you will need to be logged in to see the resources on The Communications Centre. There is one account per local Healthwatch, however if you are having problems accessing your account please email hub@healthwatch.co.uk

Visit Communications Centre 

Images

It's great if you can personalise the report with local photography. However, we've also added a new album on our Flickr library, with images that you can use throughout your report.

These images are all selected to fit with the new visual brand guidelines. 

View Flickr album 

Extra support

As always, we are running a series of webinars to help support you in producing your annual report. 

How to use the annual report template

This session will help you to understand how to use the PowerPoint template, from changing pictures, updating text and adding or deleting slides. 

13 April 2023 | 10am - 11.30am

How to write for your annual report

These interactive sessions will show you how you can best highlight your achievements from the last year, how to write great case studies and how to demonstrate the difference your work made. These training sessions will be repeated twice as numbers are limited.

3 May 2023 | 10am - 11:30am

16 May 2023 | 10am - 11.30am

Download your template

You can download the PowerPoint presentation, InDesign templates, and guidance notes below if you can't access the Communications Centre (Brandstencil).

PowerPoint template
Download (PTX 16.92 MB)
InDesign template and Guidance notes
Download (ZIP 19.35 MB)

Who to send your annual report to

Once you have published your annual report, you need to send it to:

  • Healthwatch England (use the web form below)
  • Care Quality Commission
  • NHS England - by emailing England.healthwatchannualreport@nhs.net 
  • Senior Integrated Care System leaders for your area
  • The Overview and Scrutiny Committee of your local authority
  • The local authority that commissions your service 

Deadline

The deadline for submitting your annual report is Friday 30 June 2023.

If you have any problems or concerns meeting this deadline, please speak to your regional manager as soon as possible. 

How do I submit my report?

To submit your report, you need to upload your finished document through the web form linked below

Upload your report here

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