About

Healthwatch Week ran from 9-12 November 2021 and saw staff and volunteers join us online from across England. Find out the key takeaways from each day and access further resources to help you apply what we learned. 

• Day one
• Day two
• Day three
• Day four

Day one

A message from NHS England

The conference got going with a welcome message from NHS England Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard. Amanda spoke about how much the NHS appreciates the work you do to make care better and the vital role Healthwatch can play in helping to overcome the challenges that health and social care services face. 

Our Chair, Sir Robert Francis QC, then talked about how far we had come, with more than two million people supported to share their experience or get advice last year. However, he warned delegates that we still faced challenges that we must overcome to remain relevant. 

Takeaways from other sessions

Putting our values into practice

Most staff believe our brand is critical to our work but do deliver a strong brand we need to embed our values in our work. Tips include:

• Have clear objectives and follow up on work to understand your impact so we can demonstrate our value of 'acting'.
• Train staff to ensure our communications are accessible to help deliver our value of 'including'. 
• Adopt our new brand behaviours when they are launched. 

Healthwatch brand messaging guidance

Collecting demographic data

Lots of factors, like ethnicity and peoples income levels, can affect peoples care. Collecting demographic data is key to understanding the experiences of different sections of the community. When you live in areas that are not as diverse, this information is even more critical. Asking for demographic data is not always straightforward, but there is training to support you. Every little bit of information helps when collecting demographic data and even answering one question is better than answering none. 

How to collect and use demographic data

Using the quality framework

The Quality Framework self-assessment tool has helped many local Healthwatch understand work areas that might need improvement. Lessons from local Healthwatch who have been through the exercise includes the importance of harnessing the different perspectives of board members, staff and volunteers and prioritising actions over time to make them manageable. 

The Quality Framework: How can it help you?

Communicating the difference we make

People must understand the difference their views have made to local services. Tactics to achieve this goal include:

• Make time to track if changes have occurred and plan this into your work.
• Promoting the improvements that have been achieved rather than the tasks that got you there. 
• Describe what you have achieved engagingly and what would have happened if services had not acted on your evidence. 

Demonstrating impact – new resources

Key reflections

Ending the day, our former national director Imelda Redmond reflected on the unique role of Healthwatch.

Day two

Holding services to account

Day two kicked off with a debate about one of our important roles - holding care services to account. Delegates agreed that this works best when we build constructive relationships with health and social care decision-makers, and we can influence decisions before they are made. Many of you think that carrying out this role will be challenging in the new health and care landscape, but we can if we continue building our skills, relationships and working together to be heard. 

Takeaways from other sessions

Making your communications accessible

Accessibility isn't a box-ticking exercise and should be an essential part of our everyday work. To make sure your communications are accessible, there are straightforward steps you can take, like using ALT tags. You can also avoid doing things, like using complex language, to ensure what you say is easy for people to understand. The brand language guide includes an accessibility checklist you can use.

How can we make our information as accessible as possible?

Using data to make a difference

Once you're collecting demographic data, analysing it to understand what it can tell you involves trial, error and exploration. Top tips include using statistical approaches like ratios and pivot tables to see what you uncover and using external data to make comparisons. 

How to collect and use demographic data

How volunteers can help tackle inequalities

In helping to tackle health inequalities, its important to have volunteers drawn from across the diverse communities we serve. Our volunteers can play an essential role by championing equality in our work, raising awareness of the different perspectives some groups have and helping to build relationships with their communities.

Guide to Volunteering

Day three

A message from Government

Minister of State for Health Mr Edward Argar MP welcomed delegates by speaking about our role in the future NHS landscape.

Takeaways from other sessions

Policy breakfast briefing: Social care

The public are unclear on the recent changes to social care and are increasingly concerned about issues like access, eligibility and how to pay for care. There are a lot of issues across the country at the moment with inconsistent care and financial assessments. This can lead to people giving up and not getting the care they need. We can help by focussing on clear advice and highlighting where local needs are not being met.

Advice and information: What is adult social care? 

Supporting volunteers in the new health and social care landscape

The role of volunteers within the new ICS landscape is unclear and only just over a third of delegates were confident that their ICS had volunteering on their agenda. Without a statutory requirement volunteer and patient involvement is likely to be inconsistent across the country. You can help by raising volunteering with your ICS and encouraging a discussion to find out what roles our volunteers can help with.  

Resources to support volunteering

Representation of people and communities through local Healthwatch 

Having a seat at the ICS table is important that Healthwatch demonstrate the value they bring. Bring able provide to provide evidence we collect at an ICS level and build trust through this valuable insight is key. Having Healthwatch representation will also give us the opportunity to hold systems to account for their decisions. Doing this is often a difficult task that uses a lot of resource, so it is important we come together, support and learn from each other. 

Watch the recording of this session on YouTube.

How are Healthwatch and ICS's working together?

Celebrating the difference we make

Day three also saw our annual network awards ceremony, celebrating the difference you've made over the last twelve months. 

Day four

The final day of the conference included a debate about our role in public health and an overview of net steps following Healthwatch Week.  

Takeaways from other sessions

Using our new Healthwatch brand

Consistently using the new Healthwatch tone of voice and personality takes practice but will help you grab people's attention, keep them interested and build trust. Tips to help you write like Healthwatch include:

• Speak to the reader
• Keep copy short, sharp and write in an active tone
• Use plain English and cut unnecessary information
• Write with specific personality points in mind

Brand messaging guidance

Turning evidence into change: Stakeholder influencing

Local Healthwatch are currently spending a lot of time influencing ICSs and it is not yet clear what the impact of this influencing is. However, we also sit on boards and committees such as Health and Wellbeing boards and this can lead to a lot of impact, helping to build relationships with local stakeholders and ensuring the Healthwatch voice is heard.

A guide to running Healthwatch

Working together: CQC, NICE and Healthwatch England

We are all aligned on our strategy to prioritise tackling health inequalities in our work. This gives us the opportunity to collaborate more, particularly in targeting seldom heard communities and making it as easy as possible for these communities to talk to us. Demonstrating the outcomes of our work will be key to demonstrating success in this new strategy – and all three organisations are looking at new ways of ‘closing the loop’ and showing people the impact their feedback has had.  

Watch the recording of this session on YouTube.

CQC and local Healthwatch working together

The Quality Framework is a self-assessment tool you can use to understand where your work is currently effective and where you can make improvements.

Many of you have already used the tool with our support, working with staff and volunteers to review six key domains that apply to every local Healthwatch.

We asked Healthwatch Northumberland to talk us through the process they followed and the learning they think you should know.

Why did you start, and how did you plan the work?

In March 2020, our board decided to complete framework, with the aim of having an action plan in place by the following March. The timescale felt feasible and would give us important insight to help us negotiate our contract renewal and develop our next year’s business plan.

We first thought we’d review all the domains simultaneously, with our staff, volunteers and contract holder.  But, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of holding one workshop, we had six online meetings to discuss each domain using the prompts provided by the framework. 

Each meeting involved a mix of our internal stakeholders and we enabled those less comfortable with online meetings or large groups to participate.

Who did you involve, and how did you gather your initial evidence?

The process was great because it gave us a chance to involve everyone.

However, to ensure volunteers and staff could fully contribute, we worked hard before the review sessions to make clear the purpose of the Quality Framework and how the assessment would work. This meant we focussed discussions on the review, not the process.

We invited everyone to at least one event, with a mix of staff, board members and volunteers represented. Attendees were allocated by availability or the knowledge they had of the area. Overall, 20 people took part.

It was important to think about people’s different needs. For example:

• For neurodivergent participants, make sure the meetings are not too long (1-1.5 hours),
• Use smaller groups so those who are less confident can take part.

Our chair led all the sessions and wrote up the notes. Our lead officer, who coordinated the project deliberately did not attend to enable the widest discussion.

Each session helped us gather evidence, highlighting examples of existing good work or our future aspirations. We also used the sessions to assess our current performance, giving each domain a red, amber or green (RAG) status. We also circulated the meeting notes so everyone could comment.

Following the meetings, the project coordinator and the chair also reviewed the notes and RAG status for accuracy, discussed the findings and identified themes, issues and any potentially contentious areas.

This review was critical, as it highlighted issues outside our remit or capacity or where work has taken place that the participants might now know about.

How did you build your broader evidence?

Our project coordinator then gathered the further evidence needed for each area of work and produced a summary.

An example of the evidence gathered for the people domain.

• Volunteer and staff role descriptions
• Induction plans and processes
• Code of conduct policy
• Overview of induction training
• Volunteer agreements
• Our strategic plan
• Equality and diversity policy

The project coordinator also drafted a Context and Environment Document by:

• Reviewing internal strategic planning documents, strategies, board reports and minutes, impact records and re-using relevant supporting information from evidence summaries.
• Reviewing external material and strategic documents such as local authority strategic plans, Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and Care Quality Commission reports.

The aim was to produce a ‘pen portrait’ of the context and environment we faced.

An example of the issues we looked at and the length of each section

• 149 words: Our local authority values Healthwatch, understands our role and is committed to at commissioner, officer and elected member levels
• 66 words: Robustness of local health and care services and system
• 1,491 words: Strength of local health and care stakeholder relationships
• 97 words: Local authority attitude to voluntary sector generally
• 61 words: Other local organisations doing engagement in health and care
• 162 words: Number of local providers and commissioners
• 180 words: Geographic and demographic challenges (e.g. levels of deprivation, poverty, health inequalities)
• 147 words: Local partners' attitude to involving people in their work
• 35 words: Value of our core contract and grant
• 44 words: Length of any contracts and grants
• 33 words: Number of full-time equivalent staff funded by your local authority core funding

How did you review the evidence and create your action plan?

We used our annual board planning day to review our evidence and to create an action plan. All our staff and volunteers were invited, as was our local authority.

We first started by looking at our review of the context and environment. We then broke into small groups to look at each domain and review and priories any proposed actions.

An example of how-to prioritise actions over three years:

Do First - things that are so important they need to be done in the first year if the action plan

Do Next - actions that would take longer and could wait for year two

Do Later – longer-term improvements in year three 

Do Not Do – things that are not achievable or are unnecessary

The day resulted in a list of actions, which we then developed into a plan, with information about who would deliver what and when.

Our Board then agreed the plan and asked for progress reports twice a year. We also communicated the plan to our staff and volunteers.

How much resource did the self-assessment take?

Over the five months we took, most of the costs related to the days spent on the project by our chair, project coordinator and volunteer officer.

A breakdown of time spent

• Preparation and briefings by lead officer - one day

• Preparation, review meetings and follow up by board, staff and volunteers - two days

• Review evidence, agree RAG rating, write action plan by lead officer, chair and staff - three days

• Support meeting with Healthwatch England by lead officer - two hours

Can you tell us more about any outcomes?

Since we agreed the plan, we’ve seen some real changes in different areas of work

Collaboration: We are working more closely with neighboring local Healthwatch, sharing resources, doing joint projects, and ensuring we have a strong collective voice in our Integrated Care System.

People: We have identified ways to have better induction for staff and volunteers. A new anonymous feedback survey also means we can monitor staff and volunteer satisfaction.

Engagement, involvement and reach:  We’ve done lots of work, using support from Healthwatch England to make equality, diversity and inclusion a driver of our public engagement work.

Any overall tips you would give to others?

The experience has been useful, good preparation for our contract retender and given us a better focus on key issues. Final overall reflections would include:

• Take a full-team approach
• It’s natural to worry about gaps you may find or feel guilty that you cannot address every issue.
• Encourage people to be challenging and pragmatic but not pedantic
• Build trust, be transparent and support people to take part to remain focussed
• Make use of the support from Healthwatch England.

It's hard to believe Healthwatch has been in place since nearly a decade, and in Healthwatch Commissioners terms, I feel like a dinosaur as I have been here almost from the beginning!

Over the years, Healthwatch England has worked hard to provide leadership, guidance and support to local Healthwatch and commissioners alike.  This support felt much more visible at  the outset as we all beavered ahead in setting up the Healthwatch function in our respective areas, and over the years, there have been times when as a commissioner, I thought, ‘What is Healthwatch England doing now? What are they working on? What can we help with?’

At an event for Healthwatch Commissioners in July, we collectively agreed to work closer with Healthwatch England to help shape the support provided to local Healthwatch and Commissioners.

As part of this, we decided to set up a Commissioners Reference Group. With this group, we hope to work closely with Healthwatch England to shape and improve guidance and support to local authorities with our statutory duty to commission effective local Healthwatch.

At the event in July, we heard from Healthwatch England colleagues about the things they are currently prioritising, a key one relating to the changes in health structures and the implications this might have on local Healthwatch including:

• The role of local Healthwatch at ICS level
• What capacity and resource might be needed
• How we can capture good practice and highlight challenges to stakeholders and decision-makers.

They’re currently bringing this together into a toolkit, supported by webinars and training for local Healthwatch to help them to influence Integrated Care Systems and add the most value.

As a representative on this board, I’m hoping to support Healthwatch England with planning events, shaping policy, sharing commissioning practice and grappling with some old age conundrums such as ‘demonstrating impact’ and looking at whole structures, systems and processes through an equality, diversity and inclusion lens.

Another important aspect for me will be the responsibility of being an effective ‘representative’.  How other representatives and I bring in the broader perspectives of commissioners and how we ensure we keep them up to speed with some of the key things happening is central to making this work.

We all know how important it is to collaborate, and this Reference Group brings enormous potential. Having a way for us to share what we’re working on, learn from one another and work together on live issues will make a big difference and add strength to the network.

We’re all working to that same end goal; we all have a vested interest in Healthwatch and ensuring everyone gets the health and care they need.

So I want to end by letting you know how I’m feeling right now… I’m feeling hopeful that by working better together we can have a greater impact at a time when it is possibly needed more than ever!

To support data sharing on a regional and national level, we need to make sure the information we collect is consistent with each other and key stakeholders.

You can find out more about our progress on digital transformation and the need for us to have a more significant focus on data standards in our blog.

We know through our conversations with the network, that there is more work to be done to:

• Produce a more standardised way to collect data across Healthwatch so that we can strengthen our collective insight. More similar data sets will be critical as Integrated Care Systems (ICS) moves to a statutory footing, helping to allow for easier comparisons.
• Understand the systems that are in use to collect and store data within the network so that we can build on what's working well.
• Know the barriers to data sharing and help overcome these.

So, what are we doing about it?

To start, we’re going to be contacting a sample of local Healthwatch who do not currently use the CiviCRM to ask a series of questions about your current approach to digital and data sharing.

Having already done this for 12 Healthwatch this approach has shown to be hugely insightful and has shaped our work and plans moving forward.

What will we do with the findings?

Create a standard taxonomy to help with data sharing

We will be revisiting our 'minimum viable taxonomy' in light of the information we've received from local Healthwatch about how data is categorised. Our aim is to help standardise the information while retaining a degree of flexibility at local levels.

We then will look at a solution to aid sharing data in the most straightforward and least resource-intensive way possible back with Healthwatch England to host in one place. It will enable data to be brought together for conclusions on a local, regional and national level.

We want to reassure you that we are currently working with a data consultant to ensure we operate to the highest level of data standards. Data sharing between local Healthwatch as well as with Healthwatch England is part of this work.

Use the insight to aid our decision around supporting the CiviCRM

At the moment, we've committed to supporting the CiviCRM until March 2023. We know that for some local Healthwatch the CiviCRM is not easy to use, and reporting can be complicated. However, before we can decide to move away from the system, we need to understand:

1. Alternative systems that work well within the network so that we can fully assess other viable options
2. The core business needs that an alternative system will need to provide
3. How data will be shared with Healthwatch England if we did not have the CiviCRM

How can I help?

We will try to contact as many of the local Healthwatch who do not currently use the CiviCRM as we can from the end of October.

If you’re contacted, we will be asking you for a couple of hours of your time to demonstrate the systems you use, and ask some additional questions. We will also talk you through our plans in a little more detail with the opportunity to ask questions.

If you haven't been approached by Friday 19 November but would like to participate, please email digital@healthwatch.co.uk.

For those who use the CiviCRM, we will be looking to speak with you in 2022.

About this resource

Being able to demonstrate your impact is important in helping you to secure future funding and so that Healthwatch is seen as a credible organisation locally and nationally.

To help you identify how you can further develop your work to focus on outcomes and impact we have created a self-assessment tool.

This resource helps you spend about an hour looking at different areas of your work and actions you can take to improve your ability to plan, identify and communicate impact.

You can complete this as an optional add on part of your Quality Framework process or use it on its own at any other point in time.

About this resource

It’s important that we understand how different groups of people experience health and social care services. To make this a reality we need to collect demographic data from people as well as their experience. 

We know that some Healthwatch find it difficult to collect demographic data, so Healthwatch Tower Hamlets has produced this guidance to help. 

It includes: 

• Why collecting demographic data matters 
• Different factors that can influence someone's health, wellbeing and access to services
• When to ask demographic questions
• Tips to support you in asking these questions in conversations 

Background

Every organisation should have a risk and crisis communication plan in place. Anything that could affect your organisation’s profile or stall business continuity, from financial loss to staff misconduct, is an example of a risk that warrants communication with stakeholders and/ or the public.

While communication plans will differ depending on the type of risk you're dealing with, this resource brings together some common steps that will help you deliver an effective response and protect your public profile. 

Do you have a question?

If you want to discuss risk and crisis communications, do get in touch with the Network Development Team at Healthwatch England either your Regional Manager or Campaigns and Central Region Manager Chris Gorman via chris.gorman@healthwatch.co.uk.

This step-by-step guide will help you focus on your project objectives, plan your activity and communicate and evaluate your successes as a team. 

The project checklist will show you how to:

•    Create a robust prioritization process
•    Provide structure to your planning
•    Plan your outcomes and proposed impact at the start of your project
•    Provide handy tips and tricks to help you deliver on your projects

It’s a fact that running a local Healthwatch is challenging. Resources are tight and many local Healthwatch are poorly funded, which makes fulfilling the role even harder.

Thank goodness for the dedication of our staff and the energy and the passion of our volunteers who we rely on to support many aspects of our work. It’s been a tough but rewarding journey for local Healthwatch with many successes despite the obvious challenges we face.

A big part of our role at Healthwatch England is supporting you. We do this by covering six key areas key to running an effective Healthwatch. These are identified in the Quality Framework.

The story so far and next steps

Last year, we piloted the Quality Framework with 22 local Healthwatch. Since then, a further 47 have signed up to complete it. These are currently at various stages of completion.

As part of our business plan and strategy, we’ve set a target of all Healthwatch completing the Quality Framework by March 2022. This will help to show the effectiveness of the Healthwatch network and strengthen our case for funding both at a local and national level.

We have now approached each local Healthwatch about using the Quality Framework and to find out how we can best support you through this process.

Why should you complete the Quality Framework? 

So, what are the benefits of undertaking the self-assessment? How will it help you create/maintain a sustainable organisation that commissioners will want to continue funding sufficiently during challenging times?

Board members, paid staff and other volunteers have told us that doing the self-assessment has helped clarify what it takes to run a local Healthwatch for maximum effectiveness.

This includes many of the areas that all too easily can be taken for granted such as priority setting, managing your finances, supporting staff and volunteers, managing stakeholders, and showing your impact. Going through the self-assessment helps you put in place the legal ‘must dos’ of not only running an independent organisation but also fulfilling your statutory functions.

Healthwatch have reported that the process of completing the Quality Framework has provided an opportunity for Board members, staff, and volunteers to come together to discuss strengths and how individual roles contribute to the running of an effective Healthwatch. One Healthwatch reported that this has been the first time that they are working with a new cohort of volunteers and had them involved in the process and planning for where they want to be in three years.

Examples of outcomes achieved

Below you can see a snapshot of the types of outcomes that some Healthwatch have achieved through undertaking the Quality Framework. This is very impressive because it is only early days, especially when you consider the impact of COVID-19 on normal operations.

• We have set up regular meetings with our CQC Area Lead, as this had not occurred in 2019! They have been a good way to share insights but has also led to meetings as issues have arisen, and I have now more contact with inspectors of specific services in the patch with good results. 
• We are working more closely with Local Authority portfolio holders (old and new) such that we are now being asked to lead engagement piece on future place-based health/care.
• We are now triangulating intelligence and feedback between the day-to-day activities (Feedback Centre, Information and Signposting, meeting and event attendance) and specific commissioned initiatives have improved. Activity is more joined-up now.
• We have changed the way our Board works, with the introduction of non-exec members from the Voluntary Community Sector to increase skills and diversity. We have also reviewed our policies and procedures to make sure areas identified in the Quality Framework are strengthened and reporting to the Board is clear.
• Our retention of both staff and Board members has improved as they more clearly understand the culture and values as well as the strategy and work program on which all our work is based.
• We have more clearly defined how we use the Theory of Change which underpins the Operational Plan. It is used to develop projects in partnership with our stakeholders and supports to measure impact over time.

Learning from each other

We recently advertised a grant opportunity for Healthwatch who have undertaken the assessment to provide peer support to the network through developing case studies and featuring in future webinars.

This is a great opportunity for those Healthwatch who have taken creative approaches to implementing the self-assessment to share their learning and how their approach can be adapted by both large and smaller Healthwatch. It's important that we're able to learn from one another to identify opportunities and make the most of knowledge gained.

Our support to you

The Quality Framework has been divided into six domains with tools available if you need help in a specific area. We're also going to be providing additional guidance and tools about impact and equality and diversity to better support you in these areas.

Don't forget about our Learning and Development calendar that highlights opportunities throughout the year that can help build your skills across each domain too.

After the last year it has never been more important for Healthwatch to be able to demonstrate their value, so if you have not yet engaged with the framework, please do speak to me or your Regional Manager about how we can best support you through the process.

Using the information you share with us through our Annual Survey, Satisfaction Survey, Learning Needs Survey and staff and regional networks, we have created our support offer for 2021-22.

With our strategy launched last week, our support to you prioritises several areas to help achieve our three-year strategic objective of a high performing and sustainable Healthwatch network. 

Our priority areas are designed to strengthen our impact and, in turn, the case for support and funding of Healthwatch individually and collectively. This is increasingly important with the pressures the network is facing with reduced budgets. 

Our priority areas for supporting you

1. Demonstrating impact

The continued pressure on Healthwatch funding makes it even more imperative that you can demonstrate your value. 

With such a big remit, limited resources and the challenges of influencing, it is of little surprise that some local Healthwatch have asked for help with showing their impact.  

We will support you to plan, capture and communicate the difference you make by:  

• Producing resources and tools to support you. 

• Running webinars and opportunities to share examples from across the network. 

• Providing 1-2-1 support for individual Healthwatch who request it.  

2. Equality, diversity and inclusion  

Equality, diversity and inclusion feature at the heart of our refreshed strategy for 2021-2023 and is core to our brand.  

Last year, we started work to better understand how the Healthwatch network is approaching equality, diversity and inclusion, the challenges and opportunities faced and how we can best support you, with the help of Joy Beishon, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Greenwich who we have seconded until September 2021. 

We will support you by: 

• Helping your Healthwatch with Board diversity and its role in strategy and priority setting.  

• Facilitating a peer network to support equality, diversity and inclusion. 

• Offering workshops on developing an organisational culture that supports equality, diversity and inclusion and exploring what the public sector equality duty means for local Healthwatch. 

• Providing resources to support your role of holding public bodies to account, including conducting equality impact assessments. 

• Sharing learning and resources on how you can work with specific communities.  

3. Digital, data sharing and protection  

We rely on local Healthwatch sharing their insight to inform our work on shaping and influencing national policy. This helps meet the statutory requirement to assist us in our work.  

The work on the NHS Long-Term Plan, insight gathered during the pandemic and the recent spotlight on dentistry and access to GPs that made media headlines are all examples of the impact we can achieve together. 

We will support you by: 

• Investing in new digital platforms and a central data store to make sharing your information easier. 

• Providing access to analytical tools so you can compare your data with other areas.   

• Enabling the network to collect data in a more consistent way, that helps us better understand who we are engaging and make analysing insight more efficient.  

• Creating a Digital Fund to support Healthwatch with small grants to make any necessary adjustments to the digital systems we introduce.  

• Developing new data-sharing agreements to help provide clarity about our respective roles.  

4. Healthwatch brand and reputation  

Upholding and protecting the brand is not only a requirement under the trademark licence issued by Healthwatch England but central to your reputation and demonstration of upholding the Nolan principles.   

We conducted a review of the brand, and hundreds of staff and volunteers helped develop new brand values that will be launched soon.  

Having a strong, consistent brand and the policies that underpin it is part of our work to protect Healthwatch funding and provide assurance to the public and stakeholders.  

We will support you by: 

• Publishing new guidance and resources to help you better engage local communities, manage the brand and align the new values with those of your Healthwatch whilst recognising your independence.   

• Updating the brand licence agreement and providing clarity on how you can and can’t use the brand. This will ensure as a network, we can better protect our reputation if our brand is used incorrectly.  

• Providing a range of template policies and guidance materials that will help meet the requirements of the brand licence agreement. 

5. Running an effective Healthwatch 

The support we provide you covers six key areas. These areas are identified in the Quality Framework as the key ingredients for running an effective Healthwatch.  

The Quality Framework provides a consistent way for Healthwatch, local authorities and Healthwatch England to understand Healthwatch's effectiveness and support you to identify areas for improvement.  

It also helps us fulfil our legal function to have an opinion as to whether a local Healthwatch is able to carry out its legal functions properly.   

We will support you by:  

• Working with you to find out the best way to support you by completing the Quality Framework if you haven’t already.  

• Showcasing examples of Healthwatch who have already been through the process, what they learnt and how it’s benefited them through peer-to-peer learning. 

Refreshed Network website

We have given the network site a makeover with lots of new content. You’ll find support and resources to help you run an effective Healthwatch covering each of the areas of the Quality Framework:

• Helping you lead and make decisions 

• Supporting your sustainability 

• Help to engage your communities 

• Working together 

• Showing your influence and impact 

• Supporting your staff and volunteers 

You’ll also find key dates for your calendar, the latest grant opportunities and a calendar of learning and development opportunities.  

Got a question? 

We will be sharing more information on our plans for this year in the weeks to come but, if you have a question, please do get in touch with me or any member of the Network Development Team.  

Get in touch