Healthwatch York was set up to make sure people in York are able to influence the local health and social care services that they rely on. That includes hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries, home care services and many others.
Healthwatch York help people to get the best out of the local health and social care services in our area, and ensure those services are constantly improving. They involve local people in conversations about shaping them, so that the services best reflect what our community needs.
Their ethos is centred on a want to put people at the heart of health and social care services in York.
Healthwatch York can:
• Provide information about local services to make sure you know how to access the help you need.
• Signpost you to an independent complaints advocacy if you need support to complain about a service you have received.
• Listen to your views about local services and make sure these are taken into account when services are planned and delivered
A proud member of York CVS, they want to know what is working well and what is not working well within Health and Social Care.
They hold regular listening events in the community, including monthly stalls at Explore York branches, community centres and within York Hospital.
Their Information & Signposting Officer Rachael Reeves, said, “We provide an information and advice service, we listen to people’s experiences of health and care to feed back to providers and commissioners, and we also undertake research into specific areas of health. For example, we recently published reports on access to GP services, mental health crisis care, and the new adult assessment pathway for autism and ADHD. We make recommendations on how to improve health and care services. We attend lots of meetings to make sure what people share with us is fed back into the health and care system.”
They also have a team of active volunteers who undertake a wide range of activities, including visiting care homes to find out more about the quality of care provided, readability work supporting local health and care providers to improve the quality of their public information, and research, including gathering and analysing data.
Their current work:
1. Access to GP Services
Following a recent report, they want to hear more about how accessible your GP surgery is, how easy you find using their website, and how GP access can be improved for people with long term conditions. Please get in touch if you have any experiences of this to share.
2. The experiences of young people in accessing health and care
They’re currently supporting a group of young volunteers, aged 16-25, called Core Connectors. They have been getting out and about speaking to other young people about what works and what needs to improve when accessing health and care services. If you are aged between 14 and 25 and can complete their survey, please follow this link www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/JH3MLH – or contact them to talk to someone about your experiences.
3. Gender health
They are holding a meeting on Thursday 5 December from 1-3pm to find out more about people’s experiences of gender health. They are hearing about poor experiences for people trying to access reproductive health support, dismissive attitudes to women’s health concerns, and failures in providing care to LGBTQ+ people. If you want to help shape their work, you can book a place via the link on our website.
How to get in touch
Email at healthwatch@yorkcvs.org.uk
Pop in and see them at: 15 Priory Street, YO1 6ET
Send a letter: Healthwatch York FREEPOST RTEG-BLES-RRYJ,
15 Priory Street, YO1 6ET
Visit their website www.healthwatchyork.co.uk
Call on 01904 621133
WhatsApp a voice note on
07512 342379
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