Our independent role has a big impact on local health and care – Annual Report 2024/25
We are waiting to find out more about what this means for us as an organisation, but for now our focus is on highlighting and celebrating the considerable positive impact we have had on local health and social care.
Our latest Annual Report shows that during the past year we have continued to steadfastly tackle the big issues that matter to people, help make care fairer and ensure communities are involved in improving services.
“In total 5,632 people shared their experiences of health and social care services with us during the year, helping to raise awareness of issues and improve care.
We raised their concerns at more than 200 meetings with health and care leaders and made 49 research-based recommendations about services. We also spent more than 400 hours signposting and took people’s concerns directly to those who provide services.
We are here to help and, thanks to you trusting us with your experiences, we are having a huge impact in changing things for the better. Our hope is that we can connect with a wider range of partners going forward, so together we can achieve even more.”
— Ivana Chalmers, CEO Healthwatch Hertfordshire
Spotlight on our impact:
We listen to your voices, so we can champion for real change in health and social care, and your experiences help improve access to services for everyone.
Here are some examples of what we have achieved in the past year:
- More than 500 people spoke to us about online GP consultations. Of these, 53% told us they’d rather talk to a person than use an online system to arrange their GP appointments. We told local NHS decision-makers and Hertfordshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee and we continue to champion that non-digital options should be made available for residents to contact GPs.
- 68 of the 100 people we spoke to told us they felt judged and discriminated against for using drugs and alcohol and this prevented them accessing support. Our work contributed to the development and launch of a website tackling this stigma, as well as a £2 million investment in key workers and £100,000 for peer support.
Cervical Screening and Menopause
- We heard from 233 Hertfordshire women about their cervical screening experiences. Local NHS decision-makers used our findings to create a toolkit for professionals that addresses women’s concerns about, and barriers to, attending appointments.
- We heard from 560 women with experience of perimenopause and menopause about their journey accessing support. Our recommendations were presented to a network of gynaecologists and have been used to develop improved guidelines across Hertfordshire and West Essex.
- METRO Charity used our Report to increase sexual health testing take up and introduce a wider range of self-testing options. Our work also contributed to Hertfordshire County Council’s Sexual Health Delivery Plan.
- Based on recommendations in our Report, local NHS decision-makers launched a targeted campaign to improve awareness of risk factors, symptoms and the importance of diabetes diagnosis and monitoring.
- We were one of the first organisations to deep dive into the experiences of autistic people’s take up of Annual Health Checks. Our findings contributed to the work of the Autism Strategy of Hertfordshire County Council.
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A resident told us their dentures caused a choking risk during an epileptic seizure. Upon investigating, we discovered that national dental commissioning guidelines confirmed what their dentist had told them - that bone-anchored dentures are not available on the NHS.
We raised this with local NHS decision-makers and found that NHS funding is available, but many dentists may not be aware of this option. They committed to increasing the awareness of this special funding pot among dentists for similar high-risk cases.
Downloads
To find out more about our work during the year, download our full Annual Report 2024/25.
You can also download a summary of the key highlights.
