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

Welcome to Healthwatch

Take a look at our online induction course to learn more about Healthwatch, your role and responsibilities and the support on offer from Healthwatch England. It will also be a useful refresher for existing board members who want to make the most of their role.

What does the course include? 

The course includes the following five sections, as well as contributions from existing board members on the difference they make: 

1. Welcome to Healthwatch – our role and values 
   Including a welcome from Sir Robert Francis QC, Chair of Healthwatch, who explains our values and the priorities of Healthwatch  
2. Running an effective Healthwatch 
   A closer look at the legislation and the key things all local Healthwatch leaders should know and do 
3. Your role, responsibilities and Healthwatch decision making  
   Explains the two different models of Healthwatch, standalone and hosted, and the importance of independent and transparent decision making and governing arrangements 
4. Your role in representing Healthwatch  
   Introduces you to the different situations where you may be representing your Healthwatch, including if you are a media spokesperson  
5. Support from Healthwatch England 
   This section covers ways that Healthwatch England supports local Healthwatch, from contact with your regional lead to engaging with other local Healthwatch on our Facebook Workplace community 

Volunteers have always been crucial to the delivery of Healthwatch.

As part of our work to support you with volunteering we have produced a range of new resources that cover recruitment, management and supporting your volunteers.

These resources have been informed by the results from the Volunteer Management survey and with input from Healthwatch across the country. 

Support for you

Our Guide to Volunteering aims to support you with recruiting, inducting, managing and supporting your volunteers as well as ways to track and measure their impact. It offers best practice guidance to help you connect with different parts of your community and ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion are embedded into your volunteering program.  
View the guide

Support for your volunteers

We have produced a template handbook and agreement for you to download and adapt locally.  

The Volunteer Handbook is designed to be a useful reference to your volunteers and should include information about who you are, what you do and a summary of the policies and procedures in place to support your volunteers.  

The Volunteer Agreement outlines what you want your volunteers to get out of volunteering with you and what you expect in return. 

View the resources

Policies to provide clarity to you and your volunteers

We have produced example policies for you to download and adapt. These policies set out your commitment to volunteering, the principles of how you involve volunteers and what volunteers can expect when working with you.
View the policies

About this resource

If we make a mistake, it’s important that we work quickly to put things right and learn from what has happened. Whether someone gives you a comment, a suggestion, feedback or makes a formal complaint about the work of Healthwatch, it provides a valuable opportunity to identify issues and to improve our work.

Having a clear complaints policy and process can help you:

• Create a positive experience by welcoming feedback and making it easy for people to raise concerns or make a complaint.
• Provide an appropriate, compassionate and timely resolution for all parties.
• Promote a positive organisational culture of learning and improvement.
• Give staff the confidence and freedom to offer fair remedies to put things right when needed, and to act to make sure any learning is identified and acted on to improve services.

What is the normal process for complaints?

An individual is normally encouraged to raise their concern with your local Healthwatch. If they are not satisfied there may be an option to escalate the complaint to the organisation which provides the Healthwatch service and/or the local authority which commissions it. 

Every Local Healthwatch should have a published conflict of interest policy to demonstrate its independence and meet the requirements of being an effective local Healthwatch. This guidance helps you to assess whether your current policy is fit for purpose, or in need of a refresh.  

It explains:

• what a conflict of interest is
• why you need a policy
• what you need to do if you encounter a conflict of interest.

We've also provided templates to help you meet the requirements which you can use and adapt at your local Healthwatch:

1. A declaration of interest form
2. A register of interest form

Every local Healthwatch should have a published code of conduct policy to demonstrate to the public how you bring to life your organisational values. This guidance helps you to assess whether your current policy is fit for purpose, or in need of a refresh.  

It includes:

• Why you need a policy and the importance of ensuring it is tailored to meet the needs of your staff and volunteers.
• Direction on what can be included and what to do when there is a breach of conduct. It also gives additional ideas regarding Trustees and how they can commit to your team’s agreed code of conduct.
• A template for a code of conduct and a trustee agreement, which you can adopt and adapt to your team’s needs.

Every Local Healthwatch must have a published decision making process. This guidance helps you to assess whether your current process is fit for purpose, or in need of a refresh.  

It sets out why you need a policy and the benefits a robust process can bring to your team. It explains the legal requirements, and what they mean for your local Healthwatch and provides tips on gathering a robust evidence base and prioritising in your work plan.

You will also find a template which you can adopt and adapt to your team’s needs.

How to structure a call

About this guidance

If you are a local Healthwatch member of staff or volunteer who answers phone calls from the public, find out how to structure your conversation to best help the caller and to support your wellbeing. This guide covers:

• Beginning a call
• Exploring and clarifying the caller's issue
• Ending a call
• What to do after a call

Managing calls from the public 

About this guidance

Members of the public contact Healthwatch for advice and information about health and social care services. These calls are often complex and at times you may find some or all parts of a call challenging. Find out how to best manage this in our guidance, which covers:

• Top tips for managing calls
• Handling last resort calls
• Handling repeat callers
• What to do if you feel a call is becoming abusive

Assessing risk and safeguarding 

About this guidance

You might receive calls from people in distress, who could be at risk to themselves or others, or where there might be a safeguarding concern. We have a duty of care help keep the person safe, while getting them the help they need. To support you to manage these types of calls, this guide covers:

• How to assess risk
• Safeguarding
• Callers with suicidal thoughts