Healthwatch Shropshire supports Experience of Care Week

News from our partners Healthwatch Shropshire

Healthwatch Shropshire is pleased to be involved in celebrating ‘Experience of Care Week’, which will put a spotlight on improving everyone’s experiences of healthcare, including those of patients, family, carers and staff. 

This national initiative takes place during next week (Monday 20 March 2017 – Friday 24 March 2017) and aims to highlight the importance of improving people’s experiences of care and raise awareness of the barriers which may currently prevent people from doing this.

Locally, patients and members of the public have said that they do have concerns about sharing their experiences of care when they are not positive for fear of ‘getting a black mark’. In this area, the week will be used to focus on this issue and to promote the need to support patients and the public to share their experiences and to demonstrate the value and benefit to local services when feedback is shared.

Jane Randall-Smith, Chief Officer of Healthwatch, said:

“This is an issue for everyone, whatever their age. People need to be encouraged to share their experiences without fear of reprisal and to feel confident that their feedback will be listened to and used to improve services now and for the future.

“Knowing where to go to share feedback can be quite daunting as the NHS is not one but several organisations. If you are unsure where to go to share your feedback, Healthwatch Shropshire can signpost you to the most relevant person or service. We can also record your comments anonymously and share them with the relevant providers and commissioners.”

People can let Healthwatch Shropshire know what they think about local services by phone 01743 237884, by email enquiries@healthwatchshropshire.co.uk or online www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk.

Healthwatch Shropshire is the independent health and social care champion for people in Shropshire. It gathers the views and experiences of patients,  carers, and the general public about services, including hospitals, GPs, mental health services, community health services, pharmacists, opticians, residential care and home care services.  It then makes reports and recommendations about how these services could or ought to be improved based on the information received from members of the public.  All feedback is anonymised and is shared with providers and commissioners of services who have a statutory duty to listen to Healthwatch and act on the information it shares with them.

Further information 

Healthwatch Shropshire is one of a network of 148 Local Healthwatch in England.  It is supported by a national organisation, Healthwatch England.

It has a team working in community engagement, plus a volunteer programme, a visit programme to health and social care premises, an advocacy service and an associate membership scheme to involve the public in its work.  It also has a signposting service to help people access health and social care services and support. 

Contact

Jane Randall-Smith, Chief Officer   Tel: 01743 237884

Healthwatch Shropshire, 4 The Creative Quarter, Shrewsbury Business Park, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 0176LG

Email enquiries@healthwatchshropshire.co.uk

Website www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk