NHS turns 75
NHS turns 75
5 July 2023 marks 75 years of the National Health Service.
Treating over a million people a day in England, the NHS touches all of our lives. When it was founded in 1948, the NHS was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Today, nine in 10 people agree that healthcare should be free of charge, more than four in five agree that care should be available to everyone, and that the NHS makes them most proud to be British.
Find out how you can get involved with the milestone birthday celebrations, from attending events in your local area to supporting the work of the NHS.
Get involved in the celebrations
Share your stories online of local people and professionals who are helping to make the NHS better using the hashtag #NHS75 or email england.nhs75@nhs.net.
If you’d like to share your recent experiences of using NHS services please get in touch.
Annual Report 2022-23
Healthwatch Northumberland Annual Report 202223
Our latest annual report highlights the work we have done over the past 12 months in Northumberland, to engage with communities and where we have worked with commissioners and providers to highlight key issues. This year over 1900 people shared their experiences of health and social care services with us, helping to raise awareness of issues and improve care. Almost 5000 people came to us for clear advice and information about topics such as mental health and the cost of living crisis.
Listening to your experiences
Services can’t make improvements without hearing your views. That’s why over the last year we have made listening to feedback from all areas of the community a priority. This allows us to understand the full picture, and feed this back to services and help them improve. Read the report to find out more about how we’ve listened to the experiences of local people, including our work with families to see if NHS mental health services were working for autistic children and young people, how we’ve kept the lack of NHS dentistry provision high on decision makers agendas, and what we heard from people in Cramlington about how the closure of a 100-hour pharmacy will affect them.
Hearing from all communities
Over the past year we have worked hard to make sure we hear from everyone within our county. We think it’s important to reach out to the communities we hear from less frequently, to gather their feedback, make sure their voice is heard and that services meet their needs. This year we have reached different communities by:
- Regularly visiting a local fishing community to hear from fishermen and their families
- Listening to people who don’t often have their say through our Annual Conversation
- Working with schools to hear more from young people in Northumberland
- Holding monthly face-to-face drop-in sessions across the county
Information and support
Our Signposting and Information Service provides confidential support and free information to help you understand your options and get the help you need. Whether it’s finding a GP surgery, how to make a complaint or choosing a good care home for a loved one – you can count on us. This year we’ve helped people by:
- Providing up-to-date information people can trust
- Helping people access the services they need
- Hosting monthly online information sessions about a range of conditions
- Supporting people to look after their health during the cost of living crisis
Next steps
In the ten years since Healthwatch was launched, we’ve demonstrated the power of public feedback in helping the health and care system understand what is working, spot issues and think about how things can be better in the future. Services are currently facing unprecedented challenges and tackling the backlog needs to be a key priority for the NHS to ensure everyone gets the care they need. Over the next year we will continue our role in collecting feedback from everyone in our local community and giving them a voice to help shape improvements to services. We will also continue our work to tackle inequalities that exist and work to reduce the barriers you face when accessing care.
Our priorities for 2023-24
- Social Care: We will gather the experience of those residing in care homes using our Enter and View powers. We will work with Northumberland County Council as it develops its Adult Social Care Plan ensuring our communities’ views are heard.
- Health: We will focus on how people access services, especially where there are specific barriers, for instance due to the job they do or where they live. We will continue to gather experiences of primary care services.
- Volunteering, Communications and Engagement: We will increase the number of volunteers and the diversity of people involved with Healthwatch Northumberland. We will build on our 2022 experience by using more targeted focus group ‘conversations’ to gather the experiences of Northumberland residents.
View the Healthwatch Northumberland Annual report 2022-23
Care homes forum 27 July 2023
Care homes forum Northumberland
Thursday 27 July, 10am – 11am via Zoom
Please join us for our next online forum for those with family or friends living in care homes in Northumberland.
Are you a relative of someone who lives in a care home, or have you recently helped a loved one access respite within a care home? Would you like support or information from others who have shared similar experiences? Come along to our next care homes forum to share your feedback or simply come along to find out more.
We will also give an update on our ‘look and listen’ visits into care homes.
To register for a space or give feedback outside the forum please email: info@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk or call us on 03332 408468.
Online event – Long Covid
Online event – Long Covid
Join us for our next free online lunchtime event on Friday 14 July, 1pm-2pm.
We will hear from Dr Charles Shepherd, Hon. Medical Adviser at the ME Association, who will talk to us about Long Covid and the similarities with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
He will explain what is known about the condition and discuss the best approach to managing the symptoms. He will also talk about how functional ability and quality of life might be improved.
There will be a chance to ask questions.
Register now and we will send you a link to join closer to the event.
If you would like to tell us about your experience of Long Covid and the health and care services you have used, please get in touch.
This event has now passed
Our Strategic Plan 2023-26
Our strategic plan sets out what we want to do over the next three years, as identified by our board.
Health and social care are vital parts of many people’s day to day lives. Many of us are passionate about the NHS and social care because we, or a loved one, are using a service right now. At some point, though, it is likely that every one of us will need support or treatment.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic we were working in a period of major change in health and social care and their delivery mechanisms. The pandemic and the response to it have increased the challenges that relate to demographic, economic and environmental factors and we need to take all of these into consideration when developing our strategy and planning our work.
Healthwatch Northumberland voices people’s concerns and provides feedback to service providers and commissioners. By engaging directly with users of the service and their carers we collect vital data on how and why people us e services in their area.
The potential scope of our work is vast as it covers health and social care services for all adults, children and young people in Northumberland with particular reference to those who are most vulnerable or may be excluded. This means we must prioritise the issues we focus on.
We have three strategic aims which are the themes for our work over the lifetime of the strategy. Our work each year will be identified as meeting one or more of the aims.
Health
With the help of Healthwatch Northumberland, the views, knowledge and experiences of a health service users and carers, particularly those less often heard, are listened to, and have a positive influence on changes and developments in health services in Northumberland.
Social care
With the help of Healthwatch Northumberland, the views, knowledge and experiences of a social care service users and carers, particularly those less often heard, are listened to, and have a positive influence on changes and developments in social care services in Northumberland.
Promotion
Healthwatch Northumberland is used by people in the county as a trusted source of information and signposting to health and social care services. Service providers, commissioners and key stakeholders in Northumberland and the wider care system know, trust and actively engage with Healthwatch Northumberland.
The activities and projects we do will change each year and will be set out in an Operational Plan as Strategic Objectives. These provide the framework for specific activities in the Operational Plan and delivered through our core activities of Engagement and Insight, Communications, Volunteering and Strategic Influence.
Our Chair steps down
Healthwatch Northumberland’s Chair, David Thompson, stepped down this month after six years in the role.
Healthwatch Northumberland is the independent health and social care champion for people in Northumberland and is delivered by Hexham-based charity Adapt (NE).
David has been at the helm since 2017 and has been instrumental in championing the voice of the people in health and social care decision making with those providing and commissioning services.
During his time as Chair of the Healthwatch Northumberland Board, David was involved with the Northumberland Health and Wellbeing Board, the Primary Care Commissioning Committee and the System Transformation Board, and for the past 12 months he represented the North East and North Cumbria Healthwatch Network on the Integrated Care Board.
David says “The past six years have flown by and it has been a real privilege to have shared a journey with such a dedicated band of staff, board members and volunteers. Meeting members of the public and professionals has been very rewarding as there has been and remains a determination from everyone to improve services even further.”
Before joining Healthwatch Northumberland David was Chair of leisure trust North Country Leisure and Tynedale Sports Council. Previous to that he was Head Teacher of Haydon Bridge High School for 19 years.
A new Chair is now in post and Peter Standfield of Morpeth will take the reins of the Healthwatch Northumberland Board.
David says he is ‘delighted’ with the appointment, adding “Peter will be a decided asset to Healthwatch Northumberland, bringing with him a broad range of experience and expertise.”
Healthwatch Northumberland’s Vice Chair Margaret Young is also leaving after six years in post. David told us “Margaret has been a stalwart of Healthwatch Northumberland since 2017. She has brought great knowledge and awareness to the board about what is happening in health and social care across the county.”
We’ll bring you more information about new chair Peter Standfield soon!
What you told us: May 23
Health and social care feedback Northumberland May 2023
During May you told us about the difficulties you were having ordering and getting hold of prescription medicine. We also heard from a number of people that they were still having issues booking a GP appointment. Poor service in local hospitals was another theme from feedback this month.
This month we spent time listening to customers of Lloyds Pharmacy in Sainsbury’s Cramlington, about the impact of the planned closure of the pharmacy this summer. We visited the pharmacy, which is the only 100 hours per week pharmacy in Cramlington, at different times of the day and week, to speak to customers and the wider community, to see what effect the closure would have on local people and other pharmacies in the area. We also provided an online feedback form and heard from 230 people.
As well as our regular Here to Hear drop-in sessions in Berwick, Blyth, Prudhoe, Morpeth and Bedlington, we attended events which included Prudhoe Health Week, the Fishermen’s Mission SeaFit event in Amble and the Choppington Disability Group monthly session.
Read our short report below to find out more.
Eye care pathways Northumberland
Eye care pathways in Northumberland – do they really work and how could they be improved?
In Northumberland, as across England as a whole, growing numbers of people are living with sight loss or impairment. This is likely to increase further as people live longer since a good deal of vision impairment is related to the ageing process. The estimated number of people living with sight loss in Northumberland is 13,500 (4% of the county’s population) which is higher than the national average and this is estimated to rise to 5% of the county’s population by 2032.
Consequently, vision rehabilitation services are considered key to prevention, supporting independence, and reducing demand for health and social care services.
The total estimated indirect cost of sight loss in Northumberland is over £32million. In 2020-2021 people in Northumberland living with sight loss and a wider audience told Vision Northumberland that some people in the county experience unfair barriers to accessing registration and low vision/rehabilitation services, that the eye care pathway in Northumberland was flawed, and that people did not know what services were available to them.
People stressed the importance of:
- Support close to home rather than travelling to Newcastle
- Support that focuses on the health and wellbeing impacts of sight loss such as depression, social isolation and loneliness
- Good support from officers such as Eye Clinic Liaison Officers, low vision specialists and rehabilitation officers
- Joined up working and effective signposting between services
- Developing the necessary skills to live with sight loss and maintain independence
- Access to comprehensive assessments that balance different aspects of a person’s life
- Health and social care professionals who are compassionate, understand the challenges of sight loss, and have knowledge of visual rehabilitation services and support
- Accessible information and advice especially in GP services
This report, funded by Healthwatch Northumberland, follows up on that work asking the key questions:
What challenges do people with sight loss in Northumberland experience when accessing registration and low vision/rehabilitation services as outlined in the Care Act 2014?
Does the eye care pathway really work in Northumberland and how could it be improved?
Eye care pathways in Northumberland report
Online event – Arthritis Action
Online event – Arthritis Action
Join us for our next online lunchtime event on Friday 9 June, 1pm-2pm. Ruth Smith, Engagement & Events Coordinator for Arthritis Action, will be joining us to talk about arthritis, self-management and resources for people living with the condition.
She will cover topics including pain management, diet and keeping active for those who may be new to exercise but want some tips on how to start.
This session is suitable for people who live or work in Northumberland and are living with or working with any form of arthritis, including osteoarthritis, inflammatory arthritis and gout. The presentation may also be useful for those with other conditions causing joint pain such as fibromyalgia.
There will be a chance to ask questions.
Register now and we will send you a link to join closer to the event.
If you would like more information or would like to tell us about health or social care services you have used please get in touch.
This event has now passed
Healthwatch Northumberland
We are your local health and social care champion. We’re here to make sure your views on NHS and social care services in Northumberland are heard.
