HealthWatch North Somerset A strong voice for local people to shape and challenge how health and social care services are provided in North Somerset

Health & Social Care Act 2012 Abolish Local Involvement Networks (LINks) Replaced by local HealthWatch April 2013 New body - HealthWatch England in existence from 1st October 2012

HealthWatch England HealthWatch England will provide leadership, support and advice to local HealthWatch organisations. Will gather and analyse information provided by local HealthWatch organisations and others to identify key issues and trends.

HealthWatch England Through the network, HealthWatch England will make sure the voices of people who use health and social care services are heard by the Secretary of State for Health, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the NHS Commissioning Board, Monitor and every local authority in England

Strengthening the collective voice of patients and the public ‘National Champion Voice’ DoH- Secretary of State NHS Commissioning Board HealthWatch England Care Quality Commission Monitor Ombudsman ‘Local Champion Voice’ Local authority Health and wellbeing board Local HealthWatch Overview and Scrutiny Local public health Community groups, Voluntary organisations GP Consortia Mental health Older people Working age individuals Disability groups BME groups Carers …..Others Providers

Local HealthWatch Represent the collective voice Scrutinise the quality of service provision Inform the commission decision making process Have a seat on the Health and Well Being Board Influence the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Provide local evidence based information Help people access and make choices about care

What will we do? Provide information and advice to the public about accessing health and social care services and choice in relation to aspects of those services Make the views and experiences of people known to HealthWatch England helping it to carry out its role as national champion

What will we do? Make recommendations to HealthWatch England to advise the Care Quality Commission to carry out special reviews or investigations into areas of concern (or, if the circumstances justify it, go direct to the CQC with their recommendations, for example if urgent action were required by the CQC)   Promote and support the involvement of people in the monitoring, commissioning and provision of local care services

What will we do? Obtain the views of people about their needs for and experience of local care services and make those views known to those involved in the commissioning, provision and scrutiny of care services   Make reports and make recommendations about how those services could or should be improved

What will we do? Investigate specific issues of concern to the community Ask for information and get an answer in a specified amount of time Be able to carry out spot-checks to see if services are working well (Enter and View) Refer issues to the local ‘Overview and Scrutiny Committee’

How will it be different from North Somerset LINk? Community Interest Company – fully independent – 12 individual Directors We will seek to engage members through a sub structure looking at key issues HealthWatch North Somerset will contain a User Led Organisation (ULO)

North Somerset HealthWatch Mission To reach out to all sections of the community including disadvantaged and hard to reach people To promote self awareness and responsibility in managing personal health and wellbeing To provide opportunities to influence, question and challenge To build on and make use of existing expertise, support and networks

Preparation prior to April 2013 launch HealthWatch North Somerset will be a membership organisation Publicity drive using new HealthWatch branding Invite current LINk members to join new HealthWatch North Somerset Recruit new HealthWatch North Somerset members Establish HealthWatch North Somerset work plan priorities

Patient and public involvement Earlier patient and public involvement ‘co-production’ Helping identify what services needed Contributing to the design of services Feeding back on how services work Provide local evidence based information

Contact HealthWatch North Somerset The Badger Centre, 3-6 Wadham Street Weston-super-Mare BS23 1JY Tel: 01934 410193 Georgie Bigg (Chair) – georgie.bigg@talk21.com Telephone: 01934 863070