Frequently asked questions

Healthwatch Sunderland is the independent 'consumer champion' for everyone that uses local health and social care services. This means listening to and representing the views of patients, carers and all those using these services, ensuring that their opinions and feedback are taken into account when decisions are made. This includes consultation with children and young people on their health and social care services.

Healthwatch England has been set up to give a national voice to the key issues that affect people who use health and social care services. It has been established as a statutory committee of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The main functions of Healthwatch England are:

• To provide national leadership, guidance and support by way of advice and assistance to local Healthwatch organisations
  
  
• To be able to escalate concerns about health and social care services raised by local Healthwatch, users of services, and members of the public to the CQC
  
  
• To provide advice and information to the Secretary of State, NHS Commissioning Board, Monitor and local authorities.

Healthwatch Sunderland works on a number of levels.

We provide an information and signposting service to help people find the information or the contacts they require to access health and social care services. We can be contacted by telephone, email, through our website, on social media, in person or by post. In addition to this, we produce leaflets and newsletters that provide information on local services and news of developments that affect services locally.

We collect patient experiences and concerns to build a picture of how services are working and where they can be improved. With the evidence of these experiences, we can go to the providers themselves or the commissioners and make changes to improve the services for everyone.

We can also enter and view any premises where publicly funded health or social care is provided to people in Sunderland (with the exception of children’s social services which are covered by Ofsted).

The Health and Social Care Act states that local Healthwatch has a responsibility to report the views of the local community and that commissioners and service providers must listen and respond to any concerns raised. Healthwatch is unique in having the following statutory powers:

• It can enter and view premises where health or social care services are provided (with the exception of children’s social care premises which are inspected by Ofsted).
• It has a statutory seat on the local Health and Wellbeing Board.
• Service providers have a duty to respond to local Healthwatch reports and recommendations within 20 working days
• Local Healthwatch can escalate issues direct to Healthwatch England and through them, the
  Care Quality Commission and ultimately the Secretary of State.

Enter and view is used by Healthwatch as a means of gathering evidence of patient and service user experience in the preparation of reports.

Enter and view uses selected, trained, DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service – previously known as CRB) checked staff and volunteers to observe the provision of health and social care services locally. This involves talking to patients, service users and carers directly to ask questions about the care they are receiving, so that a report for service providers can be produced based on this feedback.

Visits take place on any premises where publically funded health and or social care services to adults are being provided.

Sunderland has a large and diverse number of community and voluntary groups. Together, they have the ear of large sections of the Sunderland population. Healthwatch Sunderland works with as many of them as possible to champion the needs of their members as best we can. We consult the community and voluntary groups who have experience in particular areas for their expert advice and for feedback from their members. We work with groups rather than duplicate the work they do.

If you’re interested in Healthwatch Sunderland attending one of your meetings / groups please contact us for more information.

There is a huge scope of opportunity for people to get involved; from signing up and receiving Healthwatch monthly newsletters and reading Healthwatch news, to attending events, taking part in local and national consultations, and suggesting issues to be reviewed. There is the opportunity to volunteer as a representative at Healthwatch meetings, as well as becoming fully trained and authorised to perform ‘Enter and View’ visits. Or, if you have more time, you could consider applying to be a Board member.

For more information about volunteering with Healthwatch Sunderland please visit our ‘Get involved’ webpage.

We are always keen to hear from people who have comments or ideas they want us to hear, if you do have any feedback on your health or social care experience please visit our ‘Give us your feedback’ webpage.

If you need to speak to someone about your personal experience or have feedback about a local health and social care service in Sunderland or would like to become a volunteer for Healthwatch.

Whilst we do not investigate individual cases, your feedback and experience will be collated by Healthwatch Sunderland and passed onto the relevant providers and Healthwatch England to help identify trends for issues to be addressed.

All shared information helps build a picture of where local services are doing well and where they can be improved.

Healthwatch Sunderland takes your privacy seriously. The information you provide will be anonymised and stored electronically to help us monitor, identify and report health and social care themes and trends. Your anonymised comments may be shared with commissioning teams, healthcare providers, and Healthwatch England, to help them improve services. We treat all information confidentially and will only share this anonymous information in the exercise of our public function as a local Healthwatch.