Christmas 2013 issue of the Healthwatch Halton newsletter
4
0300 777 6543 Christmas 2013 This national conversation will shape their strategy over the next two years and create a rights based framework that has been shaped by the public and so help to put people at the heart of health and care. In relation to the NHS, there are already some legal rights which are enshrined in the NHS constitution, but there is nothing similar in care. Healthwatch consumer rights will describe what people expect from the services they need and will be used by Healthwatch to challenge services to do more to meet public expectations. Special attention will be given to speaking to those groups that are rarely heard, particularly children and young people and those with mental health conditions, to ensure that the rights work for a broad range of consumers, particularly those with the most complex needs. These special feedback sessions will form part of a nationwide series of events and an extensive outreach programme to capture thoughts and feelings from people from all over the county. Recent research by Healthwatch has revealed that as a nation we see ourselves as ‘grateful patients’, broadly satisfied with the health and care services we receive even when they fail to meet our most basic expectations. In October, Healthwatch published a framework of eight consumer rights to help us all get the safe, dignified and high quality care we deserve. Healthwatch England will be using its rights framework to challenge the system to become more consumer focused. Locally, Healthwatch Halton will be raising awareness of the consultation and encouraging as many local groups and people to take part and give their views. Healthwatch Halton have produced a booklet which gives information on the eight proposed rights. This booklet can be downloaded from the Healthwatch Halton website, http://bit. ly/1hZ3AVy, copies of the booklet can also be obtained by contacting Healthwatch Halton. We’ll cover more on our plans to get local views on this consultation in our ebulletins and next newsletter. On 16th December 2013, Healthwatch England launched a 12 week strategy consultation with patients, care users and their families. A vision for consumer rights in health and social care
Transcript
0300 777 6543 Christmas 2013
This national conversation will shape their strategy over the next two years and create a rights based framework that has been shaped by the public and so help to put people at the heart of health and care.
In relation to the NHS, there are already some legal rights which are enshrined in the NHS constitution, but there is nothing similar in care. Healthwatch consumer rights will describe what people expect from the services they need and will be used by Healthwatch to challenge services to do more to meet public expectations.
Special attention will be given to speaking to those groups that are rarely heard, particularly children and young people
and those with mental health conditions, to ensure that the rights work for a broad range of consumers, particularly those with the most complex needs.
These special feedback sessions will form part of a nationwide series of events and an extensive outreach programme to capture thoughts and feelings from people from all over the county.
Recent research by Healthwatch has revealed that as a nation we see ourselves as ‘grateful patients’, broadly satisfied with the health and care services we receive even when they fail to meet our most basic expectations.
In October, Healthwatch published a framework of eight consumer rights to help us all get the safe, dignified and high quality care we deserve. Healthwatch England will be using its rights framework to challenge the system to become more consumer focused.
Locally, Healthwatch Halton will be raising awareness of the consultation and encouraging as many local groups and people to take part and give their views. Healthwatch Halton have produced a booklet which gives information on the eight proposed rights.
This booklet can be downloaded from the Healthwatch Halton website, http://bit.ly/1hZ3AVy, copies of the booklet can also be obtained by contacting Healthwatch Halton.
We’ll cover more on our plans to get local views on this consultation in our ebulletins and next newsletter.
On 16th December 2013, Healthwatch England launched a 12 week strategy consultation with patients, care users and their families.
A vision for consumer
rights in health
and social care
A panel of experts including doctors,
dentists, nutrition specialists and
fitness experts have given their
support to the campaign. Every
Tuesday and Friday lunchtime
during January an expert will take
part in an online session on the Dry
January Facebook page and Twitter
feed to offer support, advice and
encouragement to those who are
taking part.
How do I get involved?All local residents can complete the
online survey:
h t t p s : // w w w . h a l t o n . g o v . u k /
q u e s t i o n n a i r e / d r y _ j a n u a r y _
survey.htm, and then follow the link
to sign up to Dry January.
If you provide an email address, you
will receive regular motivational
emails with hints and tips to help you
stay dry for 31 days!
Feel free to share the link with friends,
family, colleagues and neighbours
to ensure that as many people
as possible across Halton get the
opportunity to take part in the survey.
Hard copies of the questionnaire are
also available on request for anyone
who doesn’t have access to the
internet.
You can sign up anytime between
now and the 31st December and even
into January.
Dry January is delivered in
conjunction with the national
alcohol charity Alcohol Concern,
Halton Health Improvement Team,
Bridgewater Community Healthcare
NHS Trust and Halton Borough
Council.
In 2013, nationally more than 4,500
people went dry in January. Just over
74% said they took part to prove to
themselves they could do it, 56%
said they’d saved money and 82%
said they aimed to cut down on the
amount of alcohol they consumed in
the future.
Alcohol Concern is aiming to sign up
at least 10,000 people for the 2014
challenge. For more information and
to sign up, people should head to the
website www.dryjanuary.org.uk
The Dry January campaign aims to start a new conversation around alcohol and get people talking and thinking about their drinking habits. People are encouraged to sign up to go dry with Alcohol Concern for 31 days in January. It’s hoped that a break will help people reset their drinking habits and persuade them that their social life can go on without booze.
Is it time for you to sign up for Dry January?
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has introduced an automated text appointment reminder service for patients with outpatient appointments at the hospitals.
For people whose mobile numbers the hospital have as part of your details they hold, you may now receive a text reminder in the days before your appointment with details of your appointment and its location.
The hospital hopes that the service will be a way to reduce the number of patients who do not attend their appointments. Around 1,300 appointments a day are provided in the outpatient departments across the hospital sites. However, almost 1 in every 10 patients doesn’t attend.
If you can’t make an outpatient appointment then the hospitals are asking if patients can please take a minute to just let them know in advance. Letting the hospitals know means that they can reschedule your appointment and maybe provide it to someone else. It also saves your hospitals money. Missed appointments cost the hospital over £1 million each year. Patients can let the hospital know by replying to the text or by using the appointment change form on the hospital website, www.warringtonandhaltonhospitals.nhs.uk
Patients can opt out of the text message service if they wish by emailing, [email protected], replying to the text or by letting reception staff know at their next appointment.
Hospitals introduce text reminders
voicecounts
your
Have your say on healthand social care in Halton
healthwatchhalton.co.uk0300 777 6543
Have you used the North West Ambulance Service
Patient Transport Service?
What’s your experience of discharge from hospital?
In order to get a better understanding of the experiences patients have when they book transport and travel with the Patient Transport Service (PTS), whether that be a positive experience or not, the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) are asking users to complete a simple questionnaire.
The questionnaire is for users of the PTS service, not
people who may have used the 999 emergency service.
It is completely anonymous and the feedback will be used
to improve the service, if needed, which will help NWAS
enhance the patients’ overall experience of using the PTS.
If you are happy to help, questionnaires are available online
at http://bit.ly/1cpZyOI or by post.
To request a form from NWAS please call Sarah on 0161 279 4832, a freepost return envelope will be provided.
You can also pickup a questionnaire from Healthwatch
Halton by calling in to Sefton House, Public Hall Street,
Runcorn WA7 1NG or calling 0300 777 6543.
NWAS welcomes feedback from both regular users and
those who may have only used the service once or twice –
your views are very important.
Information about the Patient Transport Service is also
available on NWAS’s website at :
h t t p : //w w w. nwa s . n h s .u k /o u r - s e r v i ce s/p a t i e n t-transport-service
Going home after time in hospital can be difficult for
patients and it’s an area that Warrington & Halton NHS
FT are working to improve services around.
A lot happens at discharge - from making sure that you
have the support needed to cope back at home through
to prescribing any medicines that you need and supplying
equipment. It can also involve organising transport, making
sure community services are in place and, most importantly,
communicating with patients and their families to plan
discharge to be as smooth as possible.
It doesn’t always work like that and the hospitals are looking
at ways of planning discharge better and reducing delays.
To do this they need your help.
If you’ve been a patient at Warrington or Halton Hospitals,
during the past year, they’d like you to take part in a survey,
on your experiences of discharge.
The results from the survey will be used to help improve
discharge in the future.
If you’ve been a patient in the last year, please take the time
to take part in the survey which you can access at :
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/whhdischarge
If you don’t have access to a computer, please call 01925
664222 and ask for a paper copy to be sent.
Those of you who visit our website (www.healthwatchhalton.co.uk) on a regular basis may have noticed a small addition to the site in the top right hand corner of the page.
We’ve recently added ‘BrowseAloud’ capability to the site. Basically, BrowseAloud will read all accessible website content aloud in a high quality, human sounding voice which can be altered to suit the individual’s specific needs. Additional features include dual-colour highlighting of text, text magnification, a talking dictionary, a talking translator, an MP3 maker and screen masking.
BrowseAloud provides instant high quality speech on all devices (Smartphones, Tablet, PC, Macs) at no extra cost to the website user.
We are pleased to have BrowseAloud available on our website for our local community and hope that it’ll be of benefit to some users.
Early in 2014 we will be organising a small workshop aimed at stakeholders to ‘officially launch’ the inclusion of Browsealoud our website.
You can find out more about BrowseAloud by visiting www.browsealoud.com
Support the NHS Choices
Winter Friends campaign and
sign the pledge to look in on an
older friend or neighbour this
winter
The NHS has issued a call for
100,000 people to sign a pledge
saying they will look in on an
elderly friend or neighbour this
winter.
Each winter thousands of people
in England die as a result of cold
weather. Most are over 75 and
most of these deaths could be
avoided. Hundreds of thousands
of others spend much of the
winter alone and lonely.
The campaign, led by NHS Choices and supported by national media seeks to help by appealing to an old-fashioned sense of neighbourliness. Specifically, it is asking for 100,000 people to sign an electronic pledge that states:
“I will take time out this winter to look in on an elderly friend or neighbour to make sure they are warm and coping well.”
Those who sign the Winter Friends pledge will receive free cold weather alerts and email tips throughout the winter to help them do their bit.
People who wish to sign the pledge and join the NHS Winter
Friends campaign should visit
www.nhs.uk/WinterFriends .
Signing the pledge takes only a
moment but research suggests
that if 100,000 people sign many
lives will be enriched and many
deaths avoided.
In England, 51 per cent of all
people over 75 live alone and
five million older people say the
television is their main form of
company. Research shows that
loneliness and social isolation
are also harmful to our physical
health. Studies indicate that lack
of social connections is as likely
to cause early death as smoking
15 cigarettes a day.
Pharmacy opening hours - Christmas & New Year
Halton CCG have issued details of the opening hours of local pharmacies over the Christmas and New Year holidays.
