Healthwatch will be a social enterprise organisation, which includes charities and community interest companies. It will use the voices and experiences of the people it serves to encourage high standards of health and adult care provision and challenge poor services.
Healthwatch will replace the LINk, as well as taking on some new responsibilities. LINk is the Local Involvement Network which works to get your opinions heard by the people who plan and provide health and adult social care services.
What will Healthwatch Newcastle do for me?
Healthwatch Newcastle will:
What will Healthwatch Newcastle do for me?
Healthwatch Newcastle will:
- Be a contact point for anyone who wants, needs, or has used health and/or adult social care services
- Listen to your feedback (good or bad), about your experiences with health and/or adult social care services
- Tell health and adult social care service providers about your views and experiences and help put right anything you weren’t happy with
- Help you if you want to get involved in decisions about how health and adult social care services are designed and delivered
- Provide information and support to help you make the right choices about the health and or adult social care services you need
- Share your views at a national level with Healthwatch England and Care Quality Commission
- Guide you to the right people to speak to if you have any complaints about NHS services
You can find full details about what Healthwatch will do and how in the Appendix at the end of this questionnaire.
How will Healthwatch Newcastle do that?
To do all of this for you, Healthwatch Newcastle will:
How will Healthwatch Newcastle do that?
To do all of this for you, Healthwatch Newcastle will:
- Continue the work of the LlNk and take on new responsibilities, including the work of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). PALS supports people who have a complaint or concern about the NHS
- Be independent of the NHS and Newcastle City Council
- Be a member of the Newcastle Wellbeing for Life Board, which will bring together the people who plan and run services, elected councillors and patients to make important decisions about local services
- Work with NHS Complaints Advocacy Services
- lnvolve a wide range of organisations and individuals
- Provide opportunities for volunteering. For example, volunteers could get involved in promoting Healthwatch Newcastle to others, helping with investigations about health and social care providers, helping at events or being part of a work group
- Work closely with Healthwatch England and the Care Quality Commission (the national 'watchdog' for health and care services)
Who runs Healthwatch Newcastle?
There will be a competitive process for organisations to bid for the contract to run Healthwatch Newcastle. We believe this is the fairest, most accessible approach and will help to make sure Healthwatch Newcastle is independent.
Have your say…
What should Healthwatch Newcastle look like?
We want your views and ideas so we can make sure Healthwatch Newcastle does its job and meets your needs. Please complete the questionnaire below. We don’t need you to answer all the questions but we will still take your views into account.
We recognise that some of the questions below will be harder to answer if you have little or no knowledge of Healthwatch. If you are in this position, and would be interested in attending a Discussion Group to share your views and find out more, please let us know. We will look at organising a group or groups if there is enough interest in this option.
