. Healthwatch Lambeth News - January 2023
Championing what matters to you
Championing what matters to you
View in your browser
Healthwatch Lambeth
 

Healthwatch Lambeth is your health and social care champion. We listen to what people like about services and what could be improved. We share those views with NHS leaders and care providers to make change happen.

 
Our highlights:
 

  • A Word from our CEO

  • Take Part in our Maternity Project 

  • Engagement Round Up

  • Health Workshops for Ukrainians

  • Lambeth All-Autism Strategy

    Addressing unmet need

  • Pop-Up at King's Hospital
 
Mental Health in Lambeth
 
A Word from Our CEO, Mairéad Healy

I always look forward to winter's end; the promise of longer evenings and - possibly - better weather creating as is does an air of optimism for the coming of spring. At Healthwatch Lambeth, we have much to celebrate in March, as we mark our ten-year anniversary. Over the past decade, you’ve shared your stories and experiences with us, good and bad, and by telling us what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to health and social care, you've helped raise awareness and improve services for everyone. Without your voices, things wouldn't change, and so it is vital that local people continue to share stories of their experiences with us so that they can be amplified and health and social care services improved.

Looking forward, we're excited to get our Maternity Project off the ground in the coming months, after we received funding to look at the experiences of women using maternity services in Lambeth, while we're also delighted to announce that we have been accreddited as a London Living Wage employer. 

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Mairéad Healy

CEO Healthwatch Lambeth
 
Accident & Emergency
Take Part in Our Maternity Project
 

We want to speak to women from different backgrounds, communities and neighbourhoods about their experiences of maternity services with a view to improving them - making them better, accessible, and more inclusive for all. 

National audits of maternal and perinatal deaths found women and babies from the poorest backgrounds, and women from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities (including asylum seekers), are particularly vulnerable to poor maternal and infant health outcomes.

In the coming months, we will be speaking to women who have used maternity services in Lambeth including Black women, Asian women, ethnic minority women, migrant women, asylum seeking women, women with disabilities, and women living in areas of disadvantage.

If you are a local voluntary or community group, working with or supporting women in one of the above groups or communities, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at info@healthwatchlambeth.org.uk
 
Engagement Round Up
Enter & View

In February, we did an Enter & View The Tree House, a Certitude supported living service for people with mental health needs.

During the visit, we talked to service users about the care they received, what worked, and would could improve.

We also spoke to several members of staff about the challenges they face. We are now compiling the report with recommendations which we look forward to sharing with you.
Upcoming Projects

In a bid to address health inequalities, we are exploring a project with IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation).

We want to gather the views of Spanish and Portuguese communities about their experience of using health and social care services.

In February, we held a an exploratory meeting with IRMO and will  keep you updated as the project, we hope, starts to take shape in the coming months.

Community Outreach

Last month, we attended two events to raise awareness of our work. The first was a ‘Zumba for mums’ exercise session organised by LEAP on Monday 27th February, the second a Health and Wellbeing event at Gracefield Gardens Practice on Thursday 2nd March.

Both were well attended by Lambeth residents, who learned how we capture feedback and give it to services, and we also gave out flyers and encouraged people to share their experiences and views. 
 
Health Workshops for Ukrainians

We are partnering with the Refugee Council to run two health workshops for Ukrainians - one online on Wednesday 29 March from 6pm to 7.30pm and one in person on Thursday 30 March at Carnegie Community Library at Herne Hill from 10.30am to 12pm. The aim is to empower Ukrainians to access and use GP services, so we will be looking at registering with a GP, booking an appointment, getting the most out of an in-person or phone consultation, and what to do if you experience challenges or barriers at your GP surgery. We will also be talking about community pharmacists - when to use them and about the range of services they provide. These workshops are pilots and, if successful, will be rolled out to other communities.
 
Wellbeing support in Lambeth
 
An autistic child learning at school
Have Your Say: Lambeth All-Autism Strategy 
 

Lambeth Council and partners in NHS South East London are working together to develop plans that will support autistic people of all ages in Lambeth to thrive. They would like to see inclusion for people of all ages on the autistic spectrum and are inviting Lambeth residents to take part in a consultation as they shape a new, more inclusive strategy for the years ahead. You can take part by filling in an online survey, emailing your ideas and comments by email to: asccommissioning@lambeth.gov.uk or attending a community consultation event. Check out our page for full details.
 
Autism Strategy
 
Carer helping older woman
Addressing Unmet Need
 

Adult social care is an important issue for people in Lambeth and across the country. As more people in the population age, develop long-term illnesses or disabilities, it is crucial to ensure the social care system can support those that need it to live full, independent lives, and protect some of the most vulnerable people in society. At Healthwatch Lambeth, we want to know more about how adult social care works for everyone. This includes anyone in the community who needs help but, for a variety of reasons, doesn't access care. This is called ‘unmet need.’ You can read more about the issue of unmet need and our work at Healthwatch here.
 
Unmet need
 
Opportunities to get involved
 
Golden Jubilee Wing (Credit:KCH)
Pop-Up Event at King's College Hospital
 

We are looking forward to running a pop-up stall in the Golden Jubilee Wing at Kings College Hospital (near the helpdesk) on Thursday 23 March from 10am to 1pm.

We will be raising awareness of Healthwatch Lambeth - who we are and what we do - and are happy to advise and support people with any problems they are experiencing accessing and using health and care services.

We are also happy to hear from people who have had a positive experience so we can pass the feedback on. 
 

You have received this email because you subscribed to our mailing list.

Healthwatch Lambeth, 336 Brixton Rd, London SW9 7AA

Don't want to receive these updates? mailto:lambethbounces+u...fakehash@healthwatchcrm.co.uk
Sample Footer for HTML formatted content
Unsubscribe
80 London Road
London, SE1 6LH
United Kingdom