Values into action - how we can all live our shared Healthwatch values

I want to thank each of you for contributing over the last few months to help us explore our shared values and consider what it means to put them into action. It was inspiring to hear so many great examples in my meetings with chairs and lead officers and also in my conversations with five Healthwatch leaders, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

In case you are new or missed these discussions, I am delighted to share our five values, agreed by you, Healthwatch England staff members and our committee:

The journey so far

When we embarked on this journey last year, we committed to ensuring that our values don't become mere words on paper. It's about embodying these values in our everyday work and interactions.

Since we collectively agreed on our five values and announced them at our National Healthwatch Impact Awards event in March 2024, we have met with several of our peer network groups to discuss what we can do to turn our values into action in our different roles.

Here are a few of the fantastic ways that you are all living our shared values.

Equity

• We establish safe, inclusive spaces where everyone can share their views and value and respect the opinions of others.
• We comply with the Equality Act 2010 in all aspects of staff recruitment and care, collect demographic data, and ensure our staff continue a learning journey on equality, diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Collaboration

• We collaborate with all other local Healthwatch within our integrated care system footprint and offer feedback collectively. 
• We involve providers in projects from the start to ensure their buy-in and give recommendations the best chance of being acted upon.

Independence

• We balance our critical friend role with being a valued system partner.
• We publish our decision-making process and are clear about the involvement of laypeople and volunteers. 

Truth

• We challenge system and provider messages when they do not align with feedback from local people.
• We make sure all reports and insights have a solid evidence base.

Impact

• We track, record and promote outcomes and impact for our work. 
• We give feedback on the difference we make to people whose experiences we have gathered.

At Healthwatch England, we’re making time to reflect on how our values and behaviours shape our work, recognising that getting this right is essential to building the culture that defines, inspires, and drives us forward.

We’ve run several sessions for staff to explore how our behaviours align with our individual roles. We’ve presented some scenarios for staff to reflect on how they can apply our values and behaviours in their work and all staff objectives include application of the values and behaviours.

We’ve asked each staff member to identify at least one behaviour to discuss with their line manager during one-to-ones – something we aim to repeat throughout the year and our National Committee will be developing a charter based on these values and behaviours.

Moving forward

Although each Healthwatch is independent, with some being part of larger organisations with their own set of values, it's crucial that we can all align with a common set of values. This cohesion resonates with our funders and stakeholders, emphasising our commitment to the communities we serve. Furthermore, it demonstrates our unity as we advocate for our future sustainability. 

I'm already looking forward to our National Conference 2024, where we'll have the opportunity to reflect on these shared values.

Together, let's harness the power of our shared values to drive meaningful impact and enhance our effectiveness in serving the public.