Independent health and social care champion Healthwatch is calling on local services to make more space for new parents to talk about their mental health.

• New national report echoes the experiences of local women who are not experiencing the support they should expect if they have mental health problems when pregnant or after having a baby.
• Women feel mental ill health often triggered by a combination of issues, such as severe sickness in pregnancy, traumatic births, physical illness and a history of mental health problems.
• A fear of speaking up, a lack of opportunities to discuss mental health with professionals, not knowing where to turn for help and limited access to support all adding to women’s struggles.
• Healthwatch calls on health professionals to make more space to talk about mental health and check on the wellbeing of women during and after pregnancy.

A new report exploring the experiences of women with mental health problems during the journey to parenthood has found that many people are not experiencing the consistent support they should expect if services were following NHS guidelines.

Published this week by Healthwatch England, the report - ‘Mental health and the journey to parenthood’ - focuses on a survey of 1,738 women and draws on the research undertaken by

These women reported either having a mental health condition diagnosed by a doctor before, during or after having a baby or they said they had experienced a mental health problem which had not been diagnosed.
With the NHS committed to providing maternal mental health support for more than 30,000 extra women by 2020/21, the work undertaken by Healthwatch can help local services understand what’s working for new mothers and what isn’t.

Variable mental support for new parents

However, the national and local research also indicates that many women are not experiencing support that meets national NICE guidelines which set out what mothers should expect when it comes to the recognition, assessment and treatment of mental health problems during and after pregnancy.

Action needed to tackle fear and promote mental wellbeing

With one in four women experiencing mental health problems in pregnancy and the 24 months after birth, analysis of the stories women shared also highlights the need to provide more opportunities for new parents and health professionals to talk about mental health during the journey to parenthood.

Common themes highlighted by the experiences of women include:

• The range of issues that can help contribute to mental health problems: Severe pregnancy sickness, the physical health of babies, a history of mental health problems, feelings of isolation and a lack of empathy from professionals can all play their part.
• People don’t know where to turn for help: Despite the increased focus on NHS support for mental health, women told us about not being given enough information about the mental health support available and what to do if they need help.

Find out what they said: https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/mental-health-and-journey-parenthood

Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership leaders welcomed the publication of a Healthwatch public engagement report ‘What would you do?’ this week.

In 2018, the government announced that the NHS’ budget would be increased by £20 billion a year. In January 2019, the NHS published a long term plan which covers certain priorities that the NHS will focus on over the next 10 years.

The “what would you do” Campaign ran by local Healthwatch across Humber, Coast and Vale including Healthwatch York, North Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and Hull captured over 2000 responses on what local people want to see delivered locally across the region. Two surveys and 12 focus groups were ran to find out what people thought worked well and were things could be better.

The volume of information we received from the public have allowed Healthwatch to identify important trends of what is important to the people who live in our area. Some of those key results include:

• Knowledge and Access
• Choice and control
• Independence
• Interacting with your NHS

Report findings build on the engagement work taking place locally as well as that supporting Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership’s priorities, which include cancer, mental health, maternity services, and improving care for people with learning disabilities.

From access to discharge, patients will have expectations of what a patient journey should look like. Healthwatch spoke to members of the public to gather views on what works well, what doesn’t, and how would the public like to be more involved.

Humber Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership recognise and value the significance of having peoples’ voices at the very heart of all they do and remain fully committed to actively listening whilst taking into consideration these views wherever possible.

The engagement findings are an important part of developing the Humber, Coast and Vale Five Year Plan and ensures that the public voice is heard.

To download the report go to http://www.healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk/resources/what-would-you-do-report

Welcome to our sixth annual report!

We have great pleasure in publishing our Annual Report for the period April 2018 to March 2019. The report highlights some of the work HWERY have been doing in this, our sixth year of operation. It has been one of our busiest years yet and we continue to go from strength to strength in making changes to the Health and social care landscape.

Last year over 6000 people told us what matters most to them about health and social care. These views of the public have then been put forward in a variety of ways informing services about the improvements that people would like to see in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The work of Healthwatch could not be accomplished without the hard work and dedication of our amazing volunteers and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for working with us over the past year.

Some of the highlights include

• 6000+ people engaged
• 60+ Enter & View Visits and revisits
• Engagement on the Long Term Plan
• Reports and recommendations

Have a look at our annual report to find out more. It details, all about Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire, our statutory activities, engaging with the public, the role of volunteers and more.

Matthew Fawcett, Delivery Manager of Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire said
“I am proud to present the 2018 to 2019 report. This year has been one of our most successful years in Healthwatch. We have made some important recommendations, 80 % of which have been actioned. Our brilliant staff and volunteers have been working hard throughout the year and I think this report reflects some of the dedication and hard work of Healthwatch East Riding. Healthwatch will continue to grow and get better every year and challenge health and social care services to improve”

The full report can be found with all other Healthwatch reports at the below link
http://www.healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk/reports

Volunteers are a vital part of Healthwatch’s activities. We are always actively recruiting new volunteers and would like to hear from anyone who is interested in our work.

Most of all we want volunteering to reflect your interests and your ideas about how we can improve health and social care in the East Riding – by listening and involving the people who use them.

You can get involved with Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire in various ways:

• Publicity and promotion - to tell people about Healthwatch and the work we do.
• Surveys and research - to help us investigate health and social care issues.
• Enter and View - to visit services to speak to patients and service users.

For more information go to our Join Us page

Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire is the independent voice for the people of the East Riding, helping to shape, challenge and improve local health and social care services.

Have your say about health and social care in the East Riding and give your feedback on local services. We can also help by providing information about local health and social care services that you may find useful.

Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire (HWERY), the independent watchdog for health and social care services in the East Riding, has been working with a local care home in the East Riding to improve its rating with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Spring House in Hornsea, who previously had an overall CQC rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ and was rated as ‘Inadequate’ in the area of safety, has now been rated ‘Good’ in all areas after working closely with Healthwatch East Riding over recent months.

After the last inspection, the new manager of Spring House contacted Healthwatch to see if there was anything HWERY could do to help them improve. HWERY met with the home and developed a plan of how to help them improve which entailed Healthwatch visiting initially every week under their “Enter & View” powers; enabling Healthwatch to get a bigger picture of how the home was working and giving opportunity to provide recommendations to directly improve the lives of residents living at the home.

During the course of their visits Healthwatch has seen the home dramatically change and improve. The staff and management team were committed to change and put in a tremendous amount of hard work to achieve the turnaround in results.

Healthwatch are always willing to work with health and care services to improve. If any care home would like to work with Healthwatch please get in touch on 01482 665 684 or email enquiries@healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk

Local Healthwatch from all over the country gathered in Stratford upon Avon recently for a two day national conference in which a select number of local Healthwatch are chosen to share their excellent work with the Healthwatch network. Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire (HWERY) had the opportunity to present two conference workshops.

The Healthwatch conference is an opportunity for over 150 local Healthwatch to get together and find out more about what is happening nationally and how we can work better locally and nationally. A packed two days and lots of workshops allows the staff to come back to the East Riding even more equipped to gather service user experiences and challenge local services.

HWERY were identified as leaders in working with young people and our work towards Enter & View. As a result HWERY presented two workshops to a total of over 50 different Healthwatch over the course of the two days.

Reaching out and touching on peoples experiences of the NHS.

Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire (HWERY), the independent watchdog for health and social care services in the East Riding, was out engaging people at Driffield Show finding out how local health and social care services have helped the public.

We often hear some negative stories about health and social care but Healthwatch wanted to do something different and reached out to the residents of the East Riding to find some of the positives local people felt about their care.

HWERY wanted to do something unique and engaging with the public. As a result of the engagement Healthwatch have created four art installations which highlight some of the local population’s comments on. We are now asking for any services to make themselves known if they would like one of these pieces to display in their own venue.

Delivery Manager at HWERY, Matthew Fawcett, said:
“This is a fun opportunity for people to tell us what they liked in their local NHS. The views that people shared with us shows how good local services are and this enables us to shine a light on the good work happening locally.

“What we are looking for now is if any local health provider would like to display these pieces of art, to show the support and positive thoughts of the public. If any service is interested please get in touch with ourselves”

If anyone would like to their experiences of local health or social care they can contact us on 01482 665 684 or email. enquiries@healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk

For more information on the work of HWERY please visit: www.healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk

Students at East Riding College recently completed a social action project by teaming up with Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire (HWERY) This project specifically looked at Smoking and garnered over 950 responses. This was a terrific platform for Healthwatch to support young people taking control of their own health and wellbeing by getting a better understanding of local services and statistics. 

The report titled “5 Minutes Lost” examines the findings of the research conducted by students at Beverley East Riding College in partnership with Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire (HWERY) about smoking and local services.

The report looks at whether the public are aware of local stop smoking services and the success of them. The survey conducted looked at people’s current and past smoking status, the age they started smoking, and services and products available to assist in stopping smoking.

It looks to establish if there is enough information available to those who want to quit smoking with the help of the services available in our area, and possible ways to deter people from taking up smoking in the first place.

For the report please visit here 5 MInutes Lost Report

Improving access to GP services for people who are homeless

Nationally the awareness of those who identify as homeless has been on the rise. With an increase in the number of homeless individuals, questions have been asked about how they access Primary Care, if and when they should need it. Issues around address, documentation and identification are all valid issues as to why individuals may struggle to access primary care.

These reasons are not unique to homeless people and may affect many members of the public. As a result Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire have investigated the requirements of GP practices so that the public can be better informed about their rights when accessing Primary Care.

The report examines the process by which those with no permanent address, sofa surfing, sleeping rough and people with no identification register with a GP practice to access Primary Care. In addition to this Healthwatch also investigate which practices across the region are not following national guidance when faced with members of the public who may find it difficult to produce documentation.

For the report in full click here

Healthwatch East Riding of Yorkshire (HWERY) conducted research with children and young people from July 2017 through to September 2017 to find out which health and social care priorities are important in their lives.

The priorities covered a range of areas between physical and mental health. They were from national and local trends and areas highlighted from HWERY’s previous engagement and outreach with young people. The results will enable HWERY to have a clear understanding of what is important to children and young people across the East Riding to stay healthy.

The results from the report will help influence the work plan for HWERY for the next year.

HWERY is the voice of the public and as such need to consider public opinions when deciding on future areas of work and/or investigation.
The key findings from the report are:

• Mental health was identified as the highest priority overall  
• Emotional health and wellbeing areas had over half of all votes
• Healthy teeth were seen as the least important area over all 3 age groups

The report will be sent to all health and social care providers in the East Riding and can be downloaded here www.healthwatcheastridingofyorkshire.co.uk./reports