Annual Report 2017/18

Healthwatch North Yorkshire report on its key achievements in 2017/18.  It:

• Successfully completed the transition to an independent charity, strengthening governance, expanding the staff team, increasing research capacity and improving community engagement across North Yorkshire. 
• Influenced major local healthcare decisions through work on community hospitals, urgent care services and mental health provision, including consultation work relating to Castleberg Hospital, the Friarage Hospital and Transforming Mental Health Care services. 
• Conducted extensive public engagement, gathering 1,802 survey responses, attending major community events, engaging with older people, people with disabilities, mental health service users and young people, and using this feedback to shape local decision-making. 
• Improved understanding of rural access to healthcare by undertaking research in the Craven district, highlighting transport barriers and helping commissioners and local authorities consider access issues when planning services. 
• Worked closely with safeguarding partners, producing a county-wide safeguarding awareness survey that informed future training, public engagement and safeguarding activity across North Yorkshire.
• Delivered Enter and View visits to care homes, identifying examples of good practice and areas for improvement, while ensuring residents’ experiences influenced service quality and care standards.
• Strengthened partnership working with Clinical Commissioning Groups, the Care Quality Commission, safeguarding bodies and local authorities, ensuring residents’ experiences were reflected in strategic planning and service development. 
• Began developing Youthwatch North Yorkshire, creating new opportunities for children and young people to influence health and social care services and ensuring their voices were reflected in future work programmes.