Agenda item

11:05 – 11:30 (Timings are approximate)

Veronica Barry, Executive Director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire will present the Healthwatch update report, including Healthwatch’s own findings around end of life care. The Committee is invited to consider the report and NOTE it having raised any questions arising from the contents.

The Chair highlighted that one of the Committee’s key partners is Healthwatch Oxfordshire, and reiterated that the value of this partnership was mentioned in the HOSC’s Annual Report. The Chair welcomed Veronica Barry, Executive Director for Healthwatch Oxfordshire, and praised Healthwatch’s groundwork in gathering data on residents’ Healthcare experiences as being synergistic with the HOSC’s work. The Chair also cited the importance of gathering qualitative data on patients and their families’ experiences with end of life care. The Executive Director was then invited to summarise some key aspects of Healthwatch’s update report which included the following:

1.     Feedback from online and paper surveys had been received from patients on the care they received at John Radcliffe, Horton, Nuffield and Churchill Hospitals. Overall, patients valued the care, professionalism and support they received from staff across these hospitals, and they highly valued the clear communication and information regarding the care they received. However, patients also recognised the pressures on hospital services including on staff and the impact of this on waiting times. Some impact was reflected in the quality of patient experiences of in Accident and Emergency for instance.

2.     Healthwatch Oxfordshire had been provided with two patient stories regarding Palliative and End of Life Care by the Sue Ryder Foundation. Healthwatch were to use these patient insights to input into the HOSC agenda item on End of Life Care.

3.     Healthwatch Oxfordshire would work with Community First Oxfordshire to help explore some of the health inequalities in the context of rural isolation.

On behalf of the Committee, the Chair reiterated the HOSC’s commitment to remain up to date with the key work and research being undertaken by Healthwatch, and expressed that the Committee would also benefit from insights into health inequalities in the context of rural isolation.

The Committee recognised and noted the role of Healthwatch as a key repository of public experiences and feedback on Healthcare services, and asked about the extent to which this feedback has an effective impact on services and how it is received by Healthcare providers. The Executive Director for Healthwatch Oxfordshire responded that much of this remains contingent on the maintaining strong and positive working relationships between Healthwatch and local healthcare providers, expressing that the former were strongly pursuing this.

The Executive Director for Healthwatch Oxfordshire also emphasised their understanding that the NHS Website for Dentistry was out of date and that this should be monitored and looked at by the NHS commissioners.

It was also emphasised by Healthwatch that they are in a transition stage, in which they are also looking to hire staff to help Healthwatch execute its responsibilities. Healthwatch have also been running regular patient webinars where Patient Participation Groups and other Patient Groups can learn about health services as well as share information.

Daniel Leveson, the Integrated Care Board’s Place Director for Oxfordshire also cited the responsibility of the NHS to be curious regarding what they learn from Healthwatch, and highlighted that improvements have been made in this respect, and that Healthwatch are a permanent Member of the Place-Based Partnership. The ICB Place Director also recognised the value in Healthwatch helping to inform some of the changes that the ICB are undertaking in the Urgent Care System and around some of the work around prevention and Health Inequalities; and to work more closely with Patient Participation Groups to hear more from local communities.

The Committee NOTED the report.