Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018

"All that really belongs to us is time;
even he who has nothing else has that."

Whether we had a good year or a less than satisfactory one, as the end of the year approaches it's often a time for reflection on past achievements, as well as things that didn't quite go to plan. And sometimes even the not-so-great episodes can present us with opportunities to learn, grow and develop.

But what the majority of us probably look forward to most of all at this time of year is just kicking back and relaxing. So whilst we'll be taking a little time to look back at some of our successes from this year, and forward to the exciting changes that 2018 will bring, we promise to keep it brief. We know you have important turkey-eating, cracker-pulling duties ahead...

Didn't We Do Well!

Or did we? In order to fix our priorities at the start of 2017, we asked local people what they thought our priorities should be. A variety of themes emerged as being important to you when it comes to health care, including greater involvement in the changes to local health and social care services, and care of older people.

But what did we do with the information you gave us? How do we show that we really value your feedback? Listed below are just some of the ways we've attempted to do something about what you told us during 2017.

As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us - your feedback matters and can make a real difference to local services.

YOUR PRIORITY

WHAT WE DID

MENTAL HEALTH

We provided feedback for the Autism pathway review and feedback on mental health trust quality improvement.

SOCIAL CARE

Throughout 2017 we focused on quality monitoring and collected feedback on the needs of people with autism.

OLDER PEOPLE

We carried out Enter & View visits to hospital inpatient wards for seniors, and engaged with some of our older people via the Older People’s Forum.

ENGAGING WITH CHANGES TO HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE

We attended a number of health related meetings and reference groups. We also administered the grass roots fund which helps 'seldom heard' communities gain access to the services they need.

RAISE AWARENESS OF HEALTHWATCH WANDSWORTH

Our national campaign #ItStartsWithYou raised awareness of the Healthwatch role, championing the views of local people and feeding that back to service providers.

Our work doesn't end here! As an organisation, both nationally and locally, our aim is to continue working with the local community to make sure that your views are heard and represented to those who have the power to change things.

With that in mind, our ANNUAL SURVEY is designed to get your views on what needs to be done to improve local health and social care services, and by extension, what we need to focus on in the coming year.

All responses will be kept anonymous, however there is space to enter your contact details if you would like to be entered into our Prize Draw to win shopping vouchers (ooh!). To complete our annual survey, click here.

In focus

Speak Up Campaign

Healthwatch is here to help make care better. We listen to what you have to say about local services and share your views with those can change things for the better. So far 341,000 people across England have shared their ideas and experiences with us.

The best services know their customers. They listen to what they like and what could be better, and they make changes where they’re needed. Although we have seen progress when it comes to services understanding and acting upon what people want, there is still a long way to go before this is commonplace.

Things can only get better if we hear from you! We need you to speak up and share your experiences with us, as well as your ideas for better health care. Together we can help make care better for everyone.

To find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved, visit the Healthwatch England website.

Healthwatch consultations

Urgent Care
Would you know where to go for urgent, but non-emergency, health or social care advice or treatment? Fill in our short survey and help the NHS provide the correct advice and treatment, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Click here to complete our Urgent Care survey.

GP Consultation Survey
Some GPs feel that a sizeable portion of their patient appointments could be handled by other health care professionals. Do you have an opinion on what could be done to relieve the pressure on GP practices and how people can be made aware of alternative services? Then complete our GP survey here.

Other consultations

Opt-out Consent for Organ Donation

The government wants views from as many people as possible on plans to make it easier to give consent to be an organ donor.

Changes to legislation will mean that the general public is considered willing to donate their organs after death, unless they have ‘opted out’.

The government would particularly like your opinion on how any changes to the system should be made, along with any other information you think should be considered.

The key issues are:

how much say families have in their deceased relative’s decision to donate their organs
when exemptions to ‘opt-out’ would be needed, and what safeguards would be necessary
how a new system might affect certain groups depending on age, disability, race or faith

If you would like to have your say on this issue, please visit the consultation web page. The consultation closes on the 6 March 2018.

Need health or social care advice over the holidays?

Now, we really hope you have a lovely, peaceful time over the holidays, stress-free... However, things do occasionally go wrong, so below we've compiled some contact information you might find useful if they do.

If you need to access local health and social care services, please visit the Wandsworth Wellbeing Hub or email waccg.wandsworthhub@nhs.net.

If you have a health issue that is non-urgent, please visit your local pharmacy, contact your GP or NHS 111 (dial 111 from your telephone) for help or further options. For more serious or life-threatening emergencies, please go to your nearest hospital's A&E department or call 999.

If you experience a mental health crisis, you can contact the Inner South West London SAMARITANS for free, on 116 123 (24 hours a day, 365 days a year). Or email them - jo@samaritans.org. The Hestia Recovery Café also provides mental health assistance - call them on 07794 394 920.

If you need support to make a complaint over the Christmas period, POhWER will be open from 8am – 6pm on 22 December, and 27 to 29 December 2017. Contact them by calling 0203 553 5960.

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Healthwatch Wandsworth · Trident Business Centre – 3rd Floor · 89 Bickersteth Road · London, London SW17 9SH · United Kingdom