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Healthwatch Dudley Update

 

Thank you for joining our mailing list and welcome to the first Healthwatch Dudley bulletin.

On April 1st, Healthwatch Dudley became the new consumer champion for both health and social care services.

Your brand new service will give local people a stronger voice and will give you the chance to influence how your local health and social care services are delivered.

Healthwatch Dudley will listen and share your experiences with local care providers, to help them provide the best possible services and if necessary to hold them to account.

Introducing Team Healthwatch...

Team Healthwatch is headed up by Chief Officer Jayne Emery.  As a former Dudley CVS Development Officer Jayne brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience linked to health and social care in the voluntary sector.  

Melissa Guest is also a former Dudley CVS staff member and has been recruited into the position of Communications Development Officer.  Melissa has spent 8 years helping to raise the profile of local community groups in Dudley borough and in neighbouring Wolverhampton.

Dr Rob Dalziel joins the team as a Participatory Research Officer and will be using his extensive background in research, to gather the views and experiences of local people to provide evidence relating to Healthwatch priorities.

A new
Administration Officer has also been appointed and will join Healthwatch Dudley at the end of April.

Now that the staff team is in place, we are looking forward  to recruiting our board and welcoming volunteers into many different roles
.  If you are interested in board or volunteering opportunities with Healthwatch Dudley, please get in touch.

Events


We have been busy planning two events that will give you the chance to find out more and hopefully get you excited about getting involved. 

The theme for our first event will be:


How can we work together to build the best Healthwatch?

This event is intended for people from voluntary organisations, community groups, social and micro enterprises, health and social care forums and patient panels.


May 8th between 5pm & 8.30pm in Brierley Hill

At this event people from local groups and organisations will:

  • Receive a warm welcome
  • Find out all about Healhwatch Dudley
  • Get to meet the team
  • Discuss what would be involved in becoming a Healthwatch Hotspot
  • Find out what would be expected of health watch board members
  • Help to shape volunteer roles in Healthwatch
  • Put forward discussion topics that relate to the theme of the event
If you are not part of a local group but would like to come along please let us know.

Free refreshments will be provided.


Click here to book your place:



Or call us on 03000 111 001 for more information. 


A big launch event will follow in early July that will be open to everyone - watch this space!

 

 

Call for patient assessors to help inspect Russells Hall Hospital


All hospitals undertake annual assessment of the quality of non-clinical services and buildings, these assessments are called patient-led assessments of the care environment (PLACE).

Russells Hall Hospital is calling for 10 volunteer assessors to help them to inspect:
  • Cleanliness
  • The condition of the buildings and fixtures (inside and out)
  • How well the building meets the needs of those who use it, e.g. signage
  • The quality and availability of food and drinks
  • How well the environment protects people’s privacy and dignity

The assessments are ‘patient-led’ to ensure that the patient voice is given the highest priority and patient assessors make up at least 50% of the assessment team.  Assessors will visit different parts of the hospital on a given day each year (between April and June) in order to assess:

Assessments will take place on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th May 2013 and will take a minimum of four hours.  Assessors will be required to attend one of these days not both.

Training will take place on the morning of Wednesday 1st May 2013 and will take up to four hours.

Refreshments will be provided and parking/travel costs reimbursed.

All days will involve lots of walking around the hospital – You will need state on your application form if you will require assistance.

Who can become a patient assessor?

  • Patients
  • Relatives and carers
  • Patient advocates and friends
  • Volunteers
  • Trust members
  • Trust governors
  • Healthwatch Dudley 

What skills/training do I need?

PLACE volunteers should have a common-sense, unbiased and practical approach and be able to be objective when assessing and gathering information.   They should provide a patient’s view of the hospital 

The important thing is to provide a patient view

Deadline for registration of interest is 22nd April 2013. Please ensure that you are available for the assessment/training dates before applying.  

The application form can be completed online at http://www.dgoh.nhs.uk/about-us/quality/become-a-patient-assessor

Interested in other patient assessor opportunities?

Healthwatch Dudley has also been invited to support assessments at West Midlands Hospital in Halesowen.  Limited places are available, if you would like to find out more, please get in touch with us.


Hubs and hotspots


In the coming months a network of information hubs and hotspots will start to spring up across Dudley borough that will provide information and signposting to local health and social care services.

If you belong to an organisation that would like to host a hotspot, if you have got ideas for where you would like them to be placed or if you would like to be a hotspot volunteer, please do get in touch.

Get in touch


Our brand new helpline is now live and you can reach us on:  03000 111 001.  


It is currently staffed Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.15pm but until our full team is in place we may not always answer straight away.   If this happens, please bear with us and if you leave us a message we promise to get back to you as quickly as we can.

You can also get in touch by email at hello@healthwatchdudley.co.uk, tweet us at @HWDudley or visit our new website www.healthwatchdudley.co.uk

More information


We have produced a leaflet to give you more information about how Healthwatch Dudley will help local people to influence health and social care services.  You can download it here:

Copies will also be available shortly in health and social care settings and public libraries in Dudley borough.


Healthwatch Dudley

7 Albion Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 3EE.

Call us: 03000 111 001 Tweet us: @HWDudley
www.healthwatchdudley.co.uk
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