Annual Report 2020/21

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

• Investigated the experiences of people waiting for hospital treatment, particularly people with visual impairments and other disabilities, and produced recommendations on communication, mental health support and patient information. Local NHS trusts agreed to consider the findings and increase their focus on communication with patients waiting for treatment. 
• Influenced improvements to support for unpaid carers by ensuring recommendations from earlier research were incorporated into Southwark Council’s Carers Pathway programme, including changes to carer assessments, staff training, communication, support offers and the creation of a Carers Forum. 
• Played a significant role in the local COVID-19 response, supporting 4,721 people through advice, information, signposting and vaccine-related engagement. Community Health Ambassadors also helped identify barriers facing local communities and fed intelligence into local health and care planning. 
• Established and expanded the Community Health Ambassadors Network, with more than 85 volunteers sharing public health information, supporting vulnerable residents and providing real-time feedback about community needs during the pandemic.
• Used COVID-19 surveys and engagement work to influence local recovery planning, ensuring that issues such as mental wellbeing, access to services, information needs and vaccination concerns were reflected in local NHS and council responses. Findings were incorporated into South East London CCG vaccination planning and recovery engagement. 
• Improved access to information during the pandemic, responding to concerns about cancelled appointments, dentistry and service disruption. Advice and information pages on the Healthwatch website were accessed more than 16,000 times during the year.
• Published four reports and made 28 recommendations for improvement, with 75% of recommendations from the previous year having been acted upon when reviewed.