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Hello, I’m John Leach, I’m the chair of Healthwatch Stockport. Today we’re celebrating
our midterm review and the date today is the 24th January 2014.
The event was an opportunity for members of Healthwatch Stockport to celebrate their successes
over the last six months. They were joined by speakers from Stockport Council and the
Health Board of Directors. The first speaker was Councillor John Pantall.
Today I’ve been already to two other events. What was interesting at both event was the
emphasis on communication - to pick one thing out - communication and involvement. And as
I said to people at both events, “later on this afternoon, I’m going to an event
full of real people”, and by “real people” I mean people who are service users who are
involved and not paid professionals or having a vested interested as an elected councillor
as Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing, so I welcome the opportunity to talk to real
people.
Following the presentation from Councillor Pantall, Healthwatch Chair John Leach welcomed
and thanked everybody for attending. He was then followed by Finance Director David Atkinson
who went over the Healthwatch finances for the first six months.
All of this work supports the vision for Healthwatch Stockport as an independent community-led
organisation. Its key purpose, of course, is to ensure that local people and communities
have a stronger influence and challenge on how health and social care services for both
adults and children are commissioned and provided in Stockport.
And what has amazed me since I started at Healthwatch Stockport is that there is a real
can-do attitude with the members and when we have - we have subgroups, so we’ll have
a subgroup around children & young people, mental health or patient experience - if there
is a subgroup that’s needed, a member will approach us at the office and say, “we need
a subgroup on this, and this is what I’m willing to do to get this subgroup off the
ground”. It’s not a passing of responsibility; people are very willing to get involved and
be doers.
Within the first nine months, Healthwatch Stockport has had many successes. The It’s
in the Drawer is nearing completion; this group looked for the views of local people
on the use of hearing aids and the reasons behind why they may not use them. The Quality
of Home Care task & finish group completed their work in December last year, finding
inconsistencies in quality, dignity and administration. Their report was starting point for discussions
with the commissioners of the service. Other Healthwatch are using our Do you have a comment,
compliment, complaint leaflet as a template for their own versions. We are working with
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and the Local Authority on our Discharge from hospital back
to care homes report Our Question + Answer Sessions have been a success, our latest on
Personal Budgets was fully booked. Our e-bulletin is well received and shared widely, we have
received many positive comments on the design and content. We are working with other Greater
Manchester Healthwatch to collect feedback on the Patient Transport Service and we will
be playing a key part in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) work with Public Health,
Stockport Council and the NHS.