Annual Report 2020/21

Healthwatch Tower Hamlets report on their key achievements for 2020/21.  They:

• Led a major COVID-19 community insights programme across North East London, gathering nearly 60,000 issues and creating a model that was recognised nationally. Insights were used to inform local pandemic responses and service adaptation. 
• Influenced the new Tower Hamlets Health and Wellbeing Strategy, with recommendations from work on healthy communities and health inequalities helping shape priorities around safe open spaces, children and young people, and improved access and coordination of services.
• Improved access to healthcare during the move to digital services by identifying groups at risk of digital exclusion. Findings were used by GP practices and hospitals to adapt services and train staff to better support vulnerable patients. 
• Helped improve the local vaccine and Test and Trace response by providing intelligence about communities experiencing health inequalities, enabling more targeted communications and outreach. 
• Influenced support for young people during the pandemic through research led by young volunteers, resulting in council action on mental health and wellbeing initiatives and support for digitally excluded families.
• Shaped the redesign of home care services by using evidence from its integrated home care work to support the development of a new borough-wide home care model.
• Published 20 reports and made 128 recommendations for improvement, with 75% of recommendations from the previous year having been acted upon when reviewed.