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

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 they are then usually referred to the local authority who has commissioned the local Healthwatch service.