Annual Report 2017/18

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

• Completed a major programme of Enter and View visits to 16 care homes and one hospital, producing 16 reports and 87 recommendations. Findings were presented to commissioners, councillors and providers to support quality improvement across the care sector.
• Established the Prisoner Healthcare Listener Project at HMP Forest Bank, training prisoners to gather healthcare feedback from other inmates. The project led to regular meetings with healthcare managers to identify and resolve issues affecting prison healthcare. 
• Influenced the development of Salford’s SEND Strategy by engaging with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, along with their parents and carers. Feedback contributed directly to the updated strategy. 
• Enabled over 4,200 residents to contribute to Salford’s Big Health and Care Conversation, helping shape local health and social care transformation plans through extensive community engagement. 
• Supported service improvements in mental health through the Mental Healthwatch Action Group, whose mystery shopping exercise of community mental health services resulted in recommendations to providers and commissioners and informed new customer care training.
• Gathered evidence from 122 people experiencing homelessness through the Health Access and Homelessness project, ensuring their experiences informed the refresh of the council's homelessness strategy. 
• Increased its engagement and influence, listening to 1,557 views from local people, publishing over 31 reports, visiting 139 community venues and events, and using this feedback to inform decisions across health and social care services in Salford.