Healthwatch Nottinghamshire Annual Report 2013/14
During the year, Healthwatch Nottinghamshire recruited six staff members (including a new Chief Executive) and 45 volunteers, opened a satellite office in Bassetlaw, attended over 300 events and meetings, and set up its Prioritisation Panel — a group of volunteers who considered at least 40 major issues, ranging from GP access to ophthalmology waiting times and community mental health services.
The three most frequently raised concerns from local people were around treatment and care (particularly medication errors), waiting times (from referral to appointment, and between appointments), and access to services (particularly difficulty booking GP appointments and concerns about service closures). Just over a third of all enquiries related to primary care, mostly GP surgeries.
Targeted engagement work included a dedicated children and young people's project (reaching over 100 children and young people through 26 activities), work with older people's groups, and outreach to veterans and armed forces personnel. The report highlights specific outcomes, including a joint report with Healthwatch Nottingham on ophthalmology waiting times at Queen's Medical Centre, which led to hospital action and a Healthwatch volunteer joining the hospital's patient experience group, and recommendations from children and young people's engagement work around waiting room facilities, being spoken to directly by health professionals, and improving transition to adult care.
The report also covers the organisation's board and Advisory Group structure, its work with the Health and Wellbeing Board and Health Scrutiny Committee, and its 2013/14 financial statement — total income of £465,169 from Nottinghamshire County Council, including set-up funding.
