Annual Report 2020/21

Healthwatch Barnsley report on its key achievements for 2020/21. It:

• Gathered feedback from 2,196 residents and used intelligence from four COVID-19 experience surveys to inform local providers, commissioners and senior system leaders, ensuring residents’ experiences shaped the local pandemic response. 
• Played a key role in highlighting problems accessing NHS dentistry during the pandemic, gathering evidence from patients and sharing findings with commissioners, regional Healthwatch networks and Healthwatch England. This contributed to dentistry becoming a recognised policy and commissioning priority. 
• Continued work on GP access, identifying how the pandemic had worsened existing issues around appointments and telephone access. Healthwatch gathered feedback from a wide range of residents and began targeted work to investigate GP access in greater depth. 
• Supported nearly 5,000 people during the pandemic through advice, information, COVID-19 updates, vaccine-related support, signposting and community volunteering activity.
• Improved access to primary care for people facing barriers to GP registration by signing up to the NHS GP Registration Card scheme and distributing cards through organisations supporting refugees and people experiencing housing difficulties. 
• Maintained influence within local and regional health and care systems throughout the pandemic, providing intelligence on health inequalities, patient experience and service gaps through the Health and Wellbeing Board, Integrated Care System structures and other partnership groups. 
• Supported the establishment of the Barnsley Mental Health Partnership, helping strengthen governance and oversight of local mental health and suicide prevention work.