Healthwatch Wandsworth have a survey live now to find out what the most important health priorities and social care issues are to focus on for Wandsworth.
Healthwatch priorities won’t stop you from telling us about any issue, and we’ll keep sharing news. What priorities do is help us to focus our research and conversations on the issues that matter most, to effect change.
How our priorities shape action in services and the community
We make sure NHS leaders and decision makers hear your voice and use your feedback to improve care. We can also help you to find reliable and trustworthy information and advice.
To make sure people’s experiences help make health and care better we need to focus our energies on a few topics each year.
Tell us about the topics in health and social care that are most important to you and your community so that we can make sure we work on providing information and pushing for change on things that matter to people in Wandsworth.
What difference we’ve made – an example
Local carers told us there were many ways care could be improved by involving carers when someone leaves hospital. We’ve advocated for change and there have been quite a few! Nationally the Department of Health and Social care told hospitals and social care services that they need to ensure carers are identified, that their needs are assessed and that they are signposted to help as part of the process when someone leaves hospital. Locally St George’s Hospital have committed to this and are making these improvements to how they work.
Why we need priorities
We need to focus our energy on a few things each year so we can build enough research and insight to make a difference. We can move on to other things in other years. By announcing what our priorities are and what is important, local leaders of health and care services take notice of these things and it motivates them to improve things.
What we’re hearing most about
We’re already hearing that people think that the following are important topics to focus on:
- Getting appointments with GPs and Dentists
- Mental Health
- Dementia
- Homelessness and housing
Tell us what you think
Are these the most important topics for you and your community? Does there need to be more information or improvements in the way health and social care services support people’s health when facing these issues? Or are there other topics?
We want to hear how health and social care issues affect you and people you care for. What would make things better?
Change takes time, and by setting priorities we don’t expect these issues to be fixed. But there are things we can do to move change forward by making your stories heard. We want to hear what the most important conversations are to you.
