Annual Report 2023/24

Healthwatch Bradford report on its key achievements for 2023/24.  It:

• Influenced improvements to adult social care information and advice by carrying out a major independent review for Bradford Council. The work led to practical changes including a new adult social care information “prescription pad”, staff training, and specialist advisers being placed in community wellbeing hubs. 
• Led a major project on GP access, taking public feedback directly to local GPs to improve mutual understanding of access challenges and helping local partners develop plans to improve people’s experience of primary care. 
• Worked with communities that often face barriers to care, including South Asian communities, carers, people with learning disabilities, deaf people, visually impaired people and neurodiverse residents, ensuring their experiences informed local health and care decision-making. 
• Contributed to improvements in dementia care by identifying problems affecting care home residents attending hospital, leading to the introduction of a new protocol at Bradford Royal Infirmary to address the issue. 
• Delivered influential work on end-of-life care across West Yorkshire, highlighting inequalities in access and helping shape the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board’s future programme for palliative and end-of-life care. 
• Helped ensure the public voice influenced decisions across West Yorkshire through development of West Yorkshire Voice and representation on Integrated Care Board committees, with public feedback helping shape work on primary care, dentistry, mental health and neurodiversity services.
• Continued to raise concerns about access to NHS dentistry, sharing residents’ experiences with local MPs and national decision-makers to support wider efforts to improve access to care.