Annual Report 2014/15

The key achievements of Healthwatch Wandsworth in 2014/15 were:

• Significantly expanded community engagement, holding more than 120 outreach sessions, engaging with 49 community and voluntary groups, and focusing on seldom-heard groups including people with learning disabilities, homeless people, carers, older people, young people and maternity service users. 
• Produced 14 reports on local health and social care issues, including maternity services, female genital mutilation (FGM), care homes, sheltered housing and access to services for vulnerable groups. These reports were used to challenge providers and commissioners and influence service improvements.
• Strengthened its Enter and View programme, visiting care homes for older people and adults with learning disabilities, speaking with 58 residents and 22 relatives, and making recommendations that resulted in action plans from nine provider organisations. 
• Influenced local decision-making, increasing representation to more than 40 boards, committees and groups, including the Health and Wellbeing Board, where it ensured local residents' views informed policy and commissioning decisions. [
• Secured tangible service improvements, including the creation of an Activities Coordinator post for sheltered housing residents, improvements to St George's Hospital quality inspection processes, and the inclusion of patient and carer feedback in the review of the local Frailty Pathway.
• Supported public participation in consultations, collecting 411 responses to formal consultations and 686 responses to Healthwatch-led consultations, helping ensure local voices influenced service development. 
• Delivered information and signposting support, handling 47 formal cases and developing a "How to complain about your healthcare service" programme that reached residents in sheltered housing schemes and community groups. 
• Expanded youth engagement, recruiting young volunteers and bloggers, attending youth events, gathering feedback from young people, and developing a Healthwatch Youth programme. 
• Grew its membership and online reach, ending the year with 492 individual members, 170 organisational members, nearly 2,000 Twitter followers, and over 1,000 Facebook followers. 

Overall, the report portrays 2014/15 as a year in which Healthwatch Wandsworth became a more established and influential local health and social care watchdog, with clear evidence of community engagement, scrutiny activity and service improvement.