Help Shape the Future of Health and Social Care in Your Community

Why are we doing this?

The health and social care system is changing a lot.

Healthwatch are the local patient champion/watchdog who gather people’s experiences of health and care and share them to improve local services.

Healthwatch services are set to end by 2027 with work being moved to councils and the NHS. But Your Voice in Health and Social Care (YVHSC) is still here to make sure you are heard.

YVHSC has been working across London for over 10 years to help people share their thoughts about health and care services. We currently deliver Healthwatch in Bromley, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hillingdon, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets.

Despite the sad news, this gives us a chance to build something new—together. We want to create a better way of working with local communities to make sure everyone can share their ideas and experiences, especially those who are often left out.

We’re asking service users, volunteers, community groups, carers, and local partners to help us shape the future of health and care in your area.

Your feedback will help us design a new model that is fair, easy to access, and based on real community needs.

How we work now?

Our current model was built with our Local Advisory Committees, who connect us to the community. It includes:

·       Collecting people’s experiences with health and care services

·       Visiting places like hospitals or care homes (Enter and View visits)

·       Doing research projects

·       Helping people find information and services

·       Writing a yearly report on our impact

This model works well, but we want to do more. We want to work more closely with communities, focus on local needs, include groups who are often left out, and show our impact in better ways.

Our vision for working together

We want to work with communities to design our services and decide what success looks like. People who use health and care services have important ideas that should guide our plans, reviews, and decisions.

We want to make sure local voices, especially from people who are rarely heard, are part of everything we do.

We’ll use technology and accessible formats—like simple text (Easy Read), British Sign Language (BSL), and different languages—to make it easier for everyone to join in with the way YVHSC delivers services. We’ll offer both online and in-person ways to take part.

How we’ll check our Impact

We want to show the real difference our work makes, not just count how many people we talk to. We will track:

• Changes that happen because of your feedback

• How we include people in planning our work

• What results we achieve and how communities feel about them

We will share regular updates so everyone can see how their ideas are making a difference.

Sharing your ideas

Whether you use services, care for someone, or just care about your community, your voice matters. We have created a survey for the public and a survey for health and care professionals to complete.

To fill in our survey, please visit:

Professionals

Public

If you have any further questions, please contact Carleen Duffy, Area Manager - carleen@yvhsc.org.uk