Summer 2014

Welcome!

Welcome to the first issue of

Plymouth Voices brought to you by

Healthwatch Plymouth. This magazine

will keep you up to date with our

activities, as well as news about local

health and social care services.

What is Healthwatch Plymouth?

Healthwatch Plymouth is an independent

consumer champion for health and social care

services.

Healthwatch plays a role at both national and

local level to make sure that the views of the

public and people who use health and social

care services are taken into account.

In this issue

Welcome 1

Healthwatch Plymouth News

Small Grants Award 2

Steering Group 2

Local News and Projects

Pembroke St EMB 3

New PPG Project 3

Have your say

Healthwatch Champions 4

Advisory Forum 4

Volunteering with Healthwatch

Be involved 5

Keeping it local

Face of Healthwatch Plymouth 6

Research Findings

How we use your feedback 7

How to contact us 8

Annual Report

Healthwatch Plymouth News

Following an exciting first year,

Healthwatch Plymouth’s first annual

report is now available on our

website. The annual report outlines

our story so far and the various

projects we have been involved in,

as well as our future plans.

Small Grants Award

Healthwatch Plymouth had a

successful launch of our Small

Grants Scheme earlier in the year

with a good turn out from third

sector organisations across the city.

Following a good number of

applications and a couple of

meetings held by the Grants panel,

around eight grants have been

awarded and two projects have

been commissioned. There are a

range of small groups who have won

an award from us including LGBT

communities, ethnic minority

groups, young people’s mental

health and a local Devonport

neighbourhood group to name a

few.

There will be

another

opportunity to

apply later this

year. This will

be announced

in forthcoming

magazines.

Steering Group

The Healthwatch Plymouth

Steering Group is made up of local

people. The group is currently

meeting in a development

capacity and will set the priorities

for Healthwatch Plymouth.

If you are passionate about health

and social care services and have

the skills to be part of our Steering

Group, please contact us to

express an interest.

Recent Events 2014

In April, Healthwatch Plymouth

hosted its first major event,

Healthy Plymouth 2014. It was a

high profile and co funded event,

organised to showcase the

provision of local public funded

services and enable services to

engage with the public.

Healthwatch Plymouth also had a

presence at the Armed Forces Day

event on Plymouth Hoe again this

year. Our team engaged with

around 250 people, taking

feedback and signposting them to a

range of services and organisations.

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Local News and Projects

New Patient Participation Group (PPG) project –

“Patients as Partners”

The Patients Association has just

started a one year project funded by

the NHS England Area Team, to help

p r a c t i c e s d e v e l o p p a t i e n t

participation groups (PPGs) in line

with new guidance in the GP

contract.

The PPG programme will consist of

developing a blueprint to enable

patients and the public to be involved

and give everyone a clearer idea of

the purpose, role and benefits of

patient and carer participation. It

will include developing templates and

training tools to assist with set up

and ongoing action plans.

We want to work with existing Patient

Participation Groups to learn from

their successes and challenges as well

as providing assistance to those areas

where it has been more difficult to

get people involved.

If you are already part of, or have a

Patient Participation Group in your

practice or would like to be involved

in this project please contact Heather

Eardley, Director of Development at

the Patients Association, email:

heather@patients-association.com or

phone 07872 633189.

For further information see

www.patients-association.com

Pembroke Street Estate

Management Board

Pembroke Street Estate Management

Board are really pleased to be working

with Healthwatch Plymouth, following a

successful application for a small grant

earlier this year.

Based in Devonport, the Estate

Management Board’s main function is to

look after the 160 flats on the estate

which it manages in partnership with

Plymouth Community Homes.

In addition to the housing service, a

wide range of community and youth

activities take place which are closely

linked to the general health and

wellbeing of the residents.

The general health of Devonport

residents is still well below the city

average, so encouraging local people to

feedback on their experience of health

care services will help to focus on how

services can be improved.

We plan to hold an autumn event to give

local people an insight into skin care,

aromatherapy and nail painting.

Residents attending will receive a free

gift following completion of a

questionnaire and short discussion on

recent use of health care services.

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Have your say

Your voice counts

Healthwatch Plymouth want to hear

from local people about their

experiences of health and social care

services in Plymouth. The feedback

we receive is used to improve local

services.

H e a l t h w a t c h P l y m o u t h a r e

independent and all feedback we

receive is anonymous and kept

confidential. Whether your feedback

is good or bad, we want you to share

your views with us.

There are many ways to contact us,

please see page eight for details.

Working with Community Groups

Healthwatch Champions

To ensure that it’s not just those that

shout the loudest that are heard,

Healthwatch Plymouth want to work

directly with community interest

groups.

If you are interested and live and

work locally and know your

community interest group, please

contact Ally Hood.

Advisory Forum

Healthwatch Plymouth are also

seeking to develop an 'Advisory

Forum', made up of representatives

from the local community. Their

views will feed into Healthwatch

Plymouth's 'Steering Group', which

oversee and steer the work of

Healthwatch Plymouth.

If you would like to know more about

Healthwatch Plymouth, we are willing

to come along to your group or

organisation to give a talk or

presentation about the Healthwatch

service and how to ensure your group

or organisation’s voice is being heard.

Want to know more about us?

We want to meet you, the

people of Plymouth, to gather

your views and experiences of

local health and social care

services.

Healthwatch Plymouth are looking to

engage with active members of

community interest groups, to create

a two-way means o f open

communication; and thereby ensuring

communities large and small have a

voice in developing local health and

social care services.

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Whether you are passionate about local health and social care services, are

looking to gain some work experience or you enjoy engaging with the public,

Healthwatch Plymouth offers many opportunities for volunteers.

We have a brilliant team of volunteers with a range of different skills, so

whatever role you think you can play, Healthwatch Plymouth would love to hear

from you!

Volunteering is a two-way process, and you will receive ongoing support and

relevant training to help you in your role.

Anyone interested in volunteering for Healthwatch Plymouth should contact our

Volunteer Coordinator by email at volunteering@healthwatchplymouth.co.uk

Volunteers help in the following ways:

Gather views about local services from the public

Assist with various office tasks

Visit health and social care services and conduct assessment activities

Participate in community events

Test areas of concern through mystery shopping

Represent Healthwatch Plymouth on forums and attend group meetings

Volunteering with Healthwatch Plymouth

Keeping it Local

When Healthwatch Plymouth

launched in April 2013, Healthwatch

Eng land prov ided a l l l ocal

Healthwatch’s access to a bank of

images to use in our promotional

material. However, Chaz Singh,

deputy Lord Mayor at the time,

challenged us to consider using

images of actual people from

Plymouth.

We readily accepted this challenge

and over the course of the last 12

months, we developed our ‘...face of

Healthwatch Plymouth’ campaign,

culminating in a huge drive at this

year’s Healthy Plymouth event, held

in Plymouth’s city centre.

Photographer, Mar ie A l ford -

Dorrington, took images of willing

people, who in turn signed an image

release form allowing us to take and

use their picture for promotional

purposes. This was a hugely

successful project, which has created

a bank of over 70 images, reflecting

many different faces from our

Plymouth community.

Healthwatch Plymouth are very

grateful to those that volunteered to

be part of this project and pleased

that our images can now truly reflect

the people of Plymouth.

Face of Healthwatch Plymouth

Previous Branding Images

Our New Healthwatch Plymouth

Branding Images

6

Research findings

Our evidence bank

Since April 2013, Healthwatch Plymouth

has collated an evidence bank of over

2400 pieces of feedback. The feedback

builds a picture of the experiences of

local people using health and social

care services in the city, enabling us to

identify themes and trends.

The findings

The pie charts below show the nature

of the feedback for the services

people speak to us about the most.

How we use our evidence

We have compiled regular reports for

key meetings throughout the city

including:

Dentist Feedback

Positive

Negative

Neutral 50%

43%

7%

GP Feedback

Positive

Negative

Neutral

46%

43%

11%

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Feedback*

Positive

Negative

Neutral 42%

46%

12%

The Joint Strategic Needs

Assessment

NHS Quality Surveillance Group

Plymouth Hospital Trust Patient

Experience

As a result of some of our findings, we

have been invited to sit as representatives

on other committees such as the Local

Dental Network. We also report the

feedback directly to service providers and

commissioners for further investigation;

and have fed into local and regional

consultations.

*Derriford Hospital

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How to contact us

Talk to us confidentially…

Shape YOUR health

and social care services.

Hospital

Health Centre

Doctor

Dentist

Optician

Pharmacy

Care Home

And others...

Ways to contact us

0800 923 0039 (FREE from landlines)

01752 202407 (included in mobile minutes)

07533 432 200

info@healthwatchplymouth.co.uk

Drop-in and visit us at our

various drop-ins

(see schedule below)

Unit 37, HQ Building, Union Street,

Plymouth PL1 3HQ

www.healthwatchplymouth.co.uk

@HealthwatchPlym

Healthwatch Plymouth

Updated May 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Mornings 9.30-11.30am

HQ Building,

Stonehouse

10-12

(every other week)

Derriford

Hospital

10-12noon

(2nd of month)

Plymstock Library

9.30-11.30am

HQ Building,

Stonehouse

10-12noon

(1st of month)

Cumberland

Centre

10-12noon

(1st of month)

The Life Centre

Afternoons 1.30-3.00pm

(1st of month)

Oasis Café,

Stonehouse

1-3pm

(4th of month)

Mount Gould

Care Centre

2-4pm

(2nd of month)

Central Library

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