Annual Report 2018/19

Healthwatch Brighton and Hove report on its key achievements for 2018/19.  It:

• Influenced improvements to A&E and Children’s Emergency Department services at the Royal Sussex County Hospital after speaking to 89 patients and parents, leading to action on patient communication, waiting times, alternative services and access issues.
• Secured changes to hospital discharge processes following a major review of 80 older patients and their families, with the NHS and CCG agreeing a joint action plan to improve discharge planning, communication and support after leaving hospital. 
• Improved understanding of oral health in care homes through visits to 20 care homes, highlighting gaps in training, oral health assessments and access to dentists. The findings influenced local oral health work, care home practice and NHS dental discussions. 
• Raised the voices of young people through Young Healthwatch projects on mental health, wellbeing and sexual health, helping inform improvements to school wellbeing services and sexual health services for young people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. 
• Strengthened scrutiny of local hospitals through regular environmental audits and PLACE work, making more than 200 recommendations which led to improvements in cleanliness, signage, privacy, dementia-friendly design and patient environments.
• Influenced local and national debate on welfare benefits assessments by highlighting problems with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) processes, helping bring concerns to MPs, Parliament, assessment providers and national decision-makers. 
• Expanded its work on home care quality, giving people receiving care at home a stronger voice, identifying issues with reliability, communication and complaints handling, and helping providers improve standards.