Agenda item

The Committee will receive the Annual Report from Healthwatch Havering.

The Committee received an oral presentation from the Chairman of the Healthwatch Havering in its Annual Report 2013/14 which set out the work carried out by the organisation in the last year.  She outlined that Healthwatch Havering was a local independent consumer champion for health and social care. The umbrella body was Healthwatch England, which is part of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 

The organisation depended upon volunteers who were able to set and priorities objectives based on personal knowledge and experiences that people and other organisations share with Healthwatch Havering. In the last year there were some very interesting pieces of work carried out which lead to successful outcomes.

The launch of Healthwatch both nationally and locally coincided with emerging public concerns raised about Mid-Staffordshire Hospital and Winterbourne House care home.  Locally, concerns were raised about a series of adverse CQC and other reports about care in Queen’s Hospital and in several care homes in the borough.  At the time the CQC carried out a new inspection regime of Queen’s Hospital which placed the hospital in “special measures”.  Whilst Healthwatch Havering was not directly involved in the decision, it did submitted evidence to the inspection team and was invited to a meeting where the CQC announced its findings.

There were a number of care homes in the borough, identified by the CQC, as being in need of significant improvement.  Whilst Healthwatch Havering had not made any formal recommendations or representation to the CQC, it had worked closely with the CQC to enable Healthwatch to be informally influential.

The Committee was informed that strong links were developed with both statutory and voluntary agencies operating in the areas that have worked on services for both people with Dementia and for people with a Learning Disability.  A series of recommendations had been submitted to commissioners and providers of health and social care services in these areas following a series of events on Learning Disability and Dementia called “Have your say…”

Healthwatch Havering was a statutory member of the Havering Health and Wellbeing Board.  It also had formal representatives on Health, Individuals and Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committees and a wide range of other relevant bodies, both local and regional to North and East London. The Health and Wellbeing Board had established eight priorities for 2013/14.  Healthwatch Havering had prioritised these from their own perspective.  The order being:

·         The CQC inspection of Queens Hospital (Priority 7: Reducing avoidable hospital admission)

·         Frail and Elderly Members of our community (Priority 5: Better integrated care for the ‘frail elderly’ population and Priority 1: Early help for vulnerable people)

·         The Better Care Fund (Priority 8: Improvement the quality of services to ensure that patient experience and long-term health outcomes are the best they can be)

·         The Care of Children in our Community (Priority 6: Better integrated care for vulnerable children)

·         Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (Support the development of all 8 priorities)

·         Dementia Strategy (Priority 2: Improved identification and support for people with dementia)

·         Children and Families Bill (Priority 1: Early help for vulnerable people)

·         Specialist and Cardiovascular Services (Priority 3: Earlier detection of cancer)

·         Childhood Obesity (Priority 4: Tackling obesity)

The Committee were informed that at an early stage it was decided that the different functions between the former LINk and Healthwatch Havering needed a new approach.  Voluntary participation was necessary, and membership was encouraged from people who had not been involved with the former LINk.  A lead was established for each area, including Social Care, Hospitals, and recently Learning Disabilities.  All of the current volunteers had or were due to receive training about “Enter and View”, safeguarding, mental capacity and deprivation of liberty.

Healthwatch Havering had identified six key priorities for 2014/15.  These were:

·         End of Life Care

·         Frail and Elderly care within the Emergency Department

·         Access to Primary Care

·         Access to Health checks and immunisation

·         Continue the programme of Care Home visits

·         To identify a project working with Young People.

All these area reflected concerns that had been brought to the attention of Healthwatch Havering and which supported the overall health and wellbeing of people.

Members raised issues about nurses in the hospital with different nationalities and language barriers.  Officers explained that this was an area being monitored, however the nursing skills had to come first.  There were training packages in place, however it was important, as with all new staff to ensure that they are integrated into the area and settle.  The retention of staff was of high importance in this area.

The Committee thanked Healthwatch Havering for sharing their report with them and looked forward to working with them in the future.