Welcome to Healthwatch Waltham Forest

We are an independent organisation set up to champion your views of health and social care in Waltham Forest. Our goal is to make the services we all use better, and to work together to make that possible.

Our work starts with you. We are here to listen to your views and to share them to shape local services.

We want to hear about your views, needs and experiences to help Waltham Forest get the best possible health and care.

Share your feedback to improve care in your community

‘Share for Better Care’, a new campaign launched by Healthwatch to help address health inequalities across England.

Last year, Healthwatch received nearly 400,000 experiences of health and social care. 

When services are under pressure, feedback on care can be crucial to identify what is working and what issues need fixing.

But not everyone’s voice is being heard.

‘Share for Better Care’ aims to help more people give feedback about their care, especially if their community experiences poor health outcomes.

Your experience matters to us

The simple act of sharing feedback is already helping to improve care for the people who use it. 

We want people to know that their feedback, no matter how small, has the power to transform health and social care across the country.

Together we can improve health and care, but we can only make a difference if we know about your experience.

Please share your experience and help us make NHS decision-makers aware of what needs to change to improve access to care, for everyone.

We’re completely independent and impartial, and anything you say is confidential.

 

Have your say

What we do

We listen to what local people think of health and social care services and share their views with professionals to make services better.

We help local people to find the health and care services and support that they need.

We run, co-ordinate and support events, projects and activities and make sure we have strong networks so we can engage with our local community effectively. 

 

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What will you do as a Community Influencer?

The main thing we’re asking Community Influencers to do is to give feedback on the health and care services that you use and to encourage others to do the same. You can also choose to help voice the views we gather and take part in designing services and local health information when the chance comes up.  It’s up to you how much time you give, and we promise to show you what difference you make and, where we can, to provide you with a financial reward in terms of a thank you for your time.  So what might it involve? Click the link below to find out. 

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2022-23 Annual Report

It’s been a year of growth and development for Healthwatch Waltham Forest. We are the independent champion for people who use health and social care services in the borough.

Summary

We are here to find out what matters to people and help make sure their views shape the support they need. We also help people find the information they need about local services.

Our year in numbers

  • 3,564 people shared their experiences of health and social care services with us, helping to raise awareness of issues and improve care.
  • 259 residents came to us for clear advice and information about topics such as mental health and the cost of living crisis.
  • We produced 44 reports on resident insights and how they thought health and care services could be improved.

How did we help make a difference?

  • We interviewed 22 Care Homes about new GP services for their residents.
  • Feedback was very positive with resident wellbeing improving. Issues concerned access to dentistry, mental health, and continence services.
  • We gathered feedback from over 1,000 people on their experience of accessing GPs.
  • Insights suggest that different access systems for the generally well and for people with long-term conditions and the vulnerable may improve experience.
  • We visited maternity services, conducted surveys, and reached out to ethnic minority and faith groups to talk about why some women have poorer maternity outcomes.
  • Whipps Cross and health services are working with local women to improve cultural awareness.
  • We worked with our neighbouring Healthwatch to look at urgent care and ambulance services.
  • We found that to tackle A&E and urgent care services we need to tackle access to GP services. We are working with Waltham Forest GPs to develop solutions.

If you need this report in a different format please email info@healthwatchwalthamforest.co.uk

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What's new from Healthwatch Waltham Forest

Help shape your local pharmacy services

March 18, 2024

On behalf of the Waltham Forest Council, Healthy Dialogues is writing a pharmaceutical needs assessment which looks at the health needs of … Read more

Hospital visiting hours extended to 10pm for Ramadan

March 18, 2024

For the month of Ramadan, Barts Health NHS Trust are extending visiting hours to 10pm across all of their hospitals … Read more

Webinar – The Future of Primary Care with Dr Lucy Abbott

March 18, 2024

Join  the webinar “The Future of Primary Care with Dr Lucy Abbott” on 20 March 2024 at 7 pm.  This … Read more