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

What is the Quality Framework?

Last year, we launched the Quality Framework which sets out the key ingredients to running a Healthwatch.

The framework tool was developed:

• To take stock of which aspects of your service are working well and where you can make improvements.
• To help local councils develop a more consistent approach to commissioning and monitoring local Healthwatch services.
• To help Healthwatch England identify where we need to provide more support and training, as well as the individual services which might need more help.

How can it help you?

Developed and tested in partnership with local Healthwatch, the framework is a self-assessment tool which Healthwatch boards and leaders can use to explore key questions such as:

• Which aspects of our work are more effective?
• Where can we improve things?
• What barriers do we need to address?
• What factors drive our success?
• What impact are we making?

By using the framework, you can also help the wider Healthwatch network by adding to our understanding of what makes an effective Healthwatch and the impact we are collectively achieving.

Is the information you share confidential?

Any information you share when completing the quality framework assessment tool remains confidential and can only be seen by Healthwatch England. We do not share identifiable information about your service with any third party.

What have we learned so far? 

Over 20 Healthwatch have used the quality framework assessment tool so far and found it to be useful in several ways.

A chance to take stock

Board members and leaders have told us that they found the exercise itself useful. It provided an opportunity to bring together staff and volunteers to explore what they are doing effectively or could be better. This helped to develop a plan in partnership to harness their strengths or address any issues. It also helped frame conversations with their commissioners to highlight the totality of the work involved in running Healthwatch, and for some to review the monitoring arrangements.

Helps drive a wide range of work

The information generated from this teamwork has been used to in a variety of ways, such as:

• improving the way services are run
• setting work plans 
• developing the ways boards work
• preparing for the retendering of a service.

Builds the confidence of boards

For many board members and leaders, the exercise provided assurance that the services they are responsible for are well run.

Adds to our collective knowledge

The evidence collected to date highlights the strengths of Healthwatch and areas that need improving – which in turn informs where Healthwatch England can focus our support. For example, all the Healthwatch who completed the framework have highly motivated and well-managed staff and volunteer teams. However, the same Healthwatch identified a need to improve their approaches to measuring impact – something echoed by many Healthwatch on other occasions.

Feedback from local authorities has also been positive, with over 20 councils already using the framework to help shape their service specifications and monitoring of contracts.

Do you need help with impact?

Why not download our Making a Difference Toolkit or talk to Jon Turner, our impact manager and lead for this work.

About this resource

It is important that when a new provider takes over a local Healthwatch contract, the public continue to receive an uninterrupted service and there is no reputational risk to the Healthwatch brand.

This guidance aims to help both outgoing and incoming providers understand their responsibilities, and how they should work together to hand over key information and assets.

It includes advice on:

• Ensuring smooth communication
• Local Healthwatch's legal requirements
• Work priorities and delivery
• Who owns data
• How to access resources

About this resource

This guide explains the statutory requirements for Healthwatch and sets out good governance principles when it comes to delivering a Healthwatch service.

The guide aims to provide you with key areas of focus, recommended best practice, as well as links to other legislation and resources that you will need for your Healthwatch.

It includes:

• What legislation says about Healthwatch
• Setting up a Healthwatch
• Governance and decision making
• Practical steps when running a Healthwatch
• How to meet your obligations
• Key legislation you need to follow
• A Quick Reference Guide (appendix) outlining the set of policies that help your Healthwatch comply with its statutory and regulatory requirements and underpin the brand

Please note that this guide was last updated on 26 April 2021 and is subject to change.