Annual Report 2019/20

Healthwatch Suffolk report on its key achievements for 2019/20.  it:

• Continued to influence mental health support for young people through the My Health, Our Future programme, analysing nearly 12,000 responses in 2019 and more than 26,000 overall. The findings helped secure funding for Mental Health Support Teams in schools, informed county-wide strategies, and shaped support delivered by schools and partner organisations. 
• Completed the county-wide What’s it like? project on residential and nursing homes, gathering feedback from around 600 people across more than 100 homes. The findings were used by the Care Quality Commission and commissioners to target quality improvement activity and address safeguarding concerns. 
• Helped inspire a national review of A&E access standards, with Healthwatch Suffolk’s work contributing to a national Healthwatch England report that supported the development of NHS plans to trial a “call 111 first” approach for urgent and emergency care. 
• Secured improvements to maternity services through campaigning on tongue-tie treatment, helping establish a specialist frenulotomy clinic at West Suffolk Hospital. By June 2020, the service had treated 145 babies and improved local access to care. 
• Independently evaluated the Stepping Home project, providing evidence that helped secure continued funding for a service supporting people at risk of delayed discharge from hospital and preventing avoidable admissions. 
• Influenced improvements in GP practices across Suffolk through regular engagement visits, with practices making changes including new telephone systems, improved accessibility, hearing loops, better appointment arrangements and improvements to waiting environments in response to patient feedback. 
• Adapted rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, launching county-wide surveys on people’s experiences, gathering feedback from thousands of residents, and ensuring local experiences informed health and care system responses and recovery planning.