Annual Report 2017/18

Healthwatch Liverpool report on its key achievements for 2017/18.  It:

• Engaged extensively with local communities, speaking to more than 7,700 people, holding 41 listening events in health services and 41 community events, and gathering patient experiences from hospitals, GP practices, care homes, mental health services and community settings.
• Influenced improvements in GP services by collecting feedback from over 1,800 people about access to appointments and continuity of care, ensuring patient experiences informed local primary care planning and service development. 
• Strengthened oversight of care homes through Enter and View visits to nine care settings and three reablement hubs, supporting quality improvement, sharing good practice and contributing to wider work on care home quality and sustainability in Liverpool.
• Played an important role in shaping hospital discharge improvements by gathering patient experiences, working with NHS partners across Liverpool and Merseyside, and ensuring patient perspectives informed discharge planning and service redesign.
• Supported students’ health and wellbeing by engaging with more than 4,000 students, improving awareness of GP registration, dental services and mental health support, and helping strengthen collaboration between universities and health services. 
• Improved access to information and support through its enquiry service and health directories, handling 2,440 public enquiries and helping residents navigate health and social care services, access appropriate support and make informed choices.
• Raised awareness of the importance of patient feedback through its patient experience campaign, encouraging more people to share their experiences and helping local services learn from both positive and negative feedback.