Community Voices at the Heart of Health and Care Conversations

The event featured a ‘speed networking’ activity, where participants shared the challenges, they, or the people they support face when trying to access services. A clear message emerged: accessible communication and proactive outreach by services are critical. Many people simply don’t know what support is available or where to turn for advice, a gap that must be addressed.

Vicky Jackson, Project Co-Ordinator, shared:

“Our network of community champions and volunteers is going from strength to strength. They are essential in ensuring we hear from people who face the greatest barriers in accessing health and social care services.

We heard about how difficult it is for people who are homeless, who have sight loss, blindness, hearing loss and are Deaf, as well as those who do not speak English as their first language, ex-offenders, and those with no recourse to public funds.

How do we ensure all these groups have the same, equal experience of health and social care services, and how do they even find out where to access this help? It certainly isn’t something we can tackle overnight, but by pooling our knowledge and chipping away at the little things, we make a big difference.”

Next steps? We’re collating the insights gathered to identify key themes and will use these to inform commissioners about the changes needed to ensure fair and equal access.

Stay tuned for updates and thank you to all who took part and shared their experiences.

If you are interested in volunteering for Healthwatch South Tees, or becoming a community champion healthwatchsouthtees@pcp.uk.net, freephone 0800 118 1691 or text only 07451 288 789