Healthwatch City of London January Newsletter
Chat from our Chair
Happy New Year! Welcome to our first Newsletter of 2025. So a lot happening at a national level and locally and where else would you come, but HWCoL to find out about the latest news and the impact it has on you.
Our objectives going into 2025, remain the same, making sure that your voice is heard in every forum where discussions about service provision or change to the delivery of health and social care take place and that your concerns, views, and ideas are heard. Without your feedback about how you have experienced health and social care, from your GP appointments to more specialised care, we can’t do what we’ve set out to do influence those planning and delivering care to you.
Our new year programme starts off with a Patient Panel with Dr Amy Hillier from the Neaman Practice taking us through the practices new booking system. We know from feedback that many of you were unaware of these changes and that they have caused some confusion and stress for patients. As a result we have organised this session to enable Dr Hillier to go through their new booking system and answer any questions you may have. If you can’t attend the session, then send us your questions, we will be uploading the session onto our website.
In February we will be conducting an Enter and View at the Neaman Practice. We have received feedback from you about the current issues that you are experiencing at the Practice, the Enter and View will not involve issues on care but factors surrounding the privacy and confidentiality that you experience and the administration side of the Practice. We are also interested in further understanding the current training that staff members are receiving and implementing. If you have any questions or wish to give any feedback that you have as a patient of the practice, please email info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
We also have another cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training session with the London Ambulance Service. More information on these events is down below.
We are looking forward to working with you in 2025 and look forward to seeing you at our local events.
Gail
Chair, Healthwatch City of London
Join us at our Patient Panel series
Our Patient Panels are here to give you the information you need on Health and Social Care in the City. We invite in experts that are able to share and highlight important issues in the City that may directly impact you. If you have a particular issue or topic that you would like to hear about, please let us know by emailing us at info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
Neaman Practice New Booking System with Dr Amy Hillier
The Neaman Practice have recently changed the way you can book your appointments. In our Patient Panel, Dr Hillier will be explaining how the new system will work, and you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have. Join us on Thursday, January 16 from 11am to 12pm on zoom with Dr Hillier to learn how to use the new booking system at the Neaman Practice and ask any questions you may have. We will also be exploring how this system assures confidentiality and, how those not connected to the internet will manage as well as the practices plans to monitor the effectiveness and safety of the system.
To register, please visit here
Cardiopulmonary-resuscitation (CPR) training session with the London Ambulance Service
We know that CPR can be the difference between life and death. The London Ambulance Service (LAS) goal is to make London a city of lifesavers by ensuring that every person has the ability to use CPR and a defibrillator in critical situations. We are holding a CPR training session in collaboration with the LAS.
The training will be a 2.5 hour training at the Portsoken Community Centre from 10am to 12:30pm on Friday, 21 March. The training will tackle the difference between a cardiac arrest and a heart attack, the chain of survival, adult basic life support (CPR), how you can deal with unconscious people and the how to utilise the recovery position, how to use a defibrillator and how to deal with choking.
Spaces are limited so registration is essential, to register visit here
Update on the Neaman Practice booking system
As mentioned above, the Neaman Practice have recently changed the way you can book your appointments. All requests for appointments will be triaged by GP Dr Hillier. This is to ensure that no patients will ever be told nothing is available.
Each request will be categorised as either urgent: eligible for an on-day appointment; or non-urgent and allocated a time and doctor in the coming fortnight or at a time that suits the patient.
For information on all of these changes, visit here
We are keen to know how this new system is working for you. Tell us about your experiences, the good and the bad as its important to know how you the user is experiencing the change. We work closely with the Neaman practice and are keen to make sure that these changes make the difference the team at the Neaman Practice are anticipating.
Our Enter and View at the Neaman Practice
We will be conducting an Enter and View at the Neaman Practice in February as part of our statutory duty which gives us a legal right to visit places that provide publicly funded health or care services, to see and hear how people experience the services. We’ll be joined by our volunteers who are not patients at the Neaman Practice, to interview both patients and staff members and to see first hand how the practice works its highs and lows.
We have a survey for patients and carers to provide feedback on the Neaman Practice prior to our visit so we can explore issues on the day. To fill in the survey, visit here
If you have any questions or feedback you would like to share now, please email info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
We look forward to sharing our findings and working together with the Neaman Practice to ensure the best service is provided.
An update on our men’s health event
Late last year, we had to postpone our men’s health event which aims to promote the importance of men’s health and the services that are directly available in the City. We will be holding the event in March, with guest speakers and local services in the City, more information will be announced soon. For updated information on all of our events, you can visit our events page on our website
The launch of our Digi Apps report
In the last few months, our team has been working on our Digi Apps project, investigating how people in the City are impacted by the increase in digitisation of your health services. We looked into what was on offer to patients in the local area, how they worked and whether they were easy to use.
Our report highlights that local residents find that accessing digital apps can prove difficult and confusing. Our findings and recommendations will highlight what needs to be improved to reduce the issues and barriers that patients and carers are facing.
We will be launching our report in February at an event for service providers, it will be published onto our website and if you would like to have a paper copy, please email info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk and our team will organise that for you.
Elsewhere in Health and Social Care
Government announces major changes in order to improve Adult Social Care
The government has announced a sizeable number of reforms and investment aimed at transforming adult social care and addressing the current challenges.
The announcement includes immediate financial support, modern technology initiatives, and the establishment of an independent commission in order to create long-term reforms.
To read about all of these reforms visit here
The impact of winter pressures from the NHS national medical director
The winter flu season has put significant pressure onto frontline NHS staff, with NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis speaking on the issue, ‘the winter flu season has not only hit the NHS early this year, but it is potentially on track to be one of the worst we have ever seen, as the ‘quad-demic’ continues to increase pressure across services’.
To read his full comments, you can visit here
With the current impacts of the flu season being so severe, it is important to stay up to date with your vaccinations throughout your life as it is the best way to protect you and those around you from serious diseases.
You an also use the NHS website and just pop in your postcode to find out if you are eligible for a free vaccination and where you can get one done right in your area.
Important update on the mental health crisis lines
The mental health crisis lines have changed, you will now need to call NHS 111, and select Option 2 to access the mental health crisis telephone line. The 0800 mental health crisis lines for City & Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets will be fully replaced from Friday, 31st January 2025.
The change is coming in order to create a consistent way for the community to be able to access mental health crisis support. It’s also important to note that individuals contacting NHS 111, Option 2 who do not feel confident/are not able to speak English, and require an interpreter, are able to do so. The caller – or somebody on their behalf – can request this by asking the call handler who takes the call.
Calling NHS 111, then selecting Option 2 will put you through to a 24/7 mental health service for all ages based in the East London NHS Foundation Trust’s (ELFT) crisis hub in Tower Hamlets. The NHS 111, Option 2 team has a wide range of skills, including on-the-phone brief psychological support and has access to key services and organisations that can offer mental health support to people in their time of need.
For more information on this change, you can visit here
New Chair announced for Homerton Healthcare
A new Chair has been announced for Homerton Healthcare, Mary Elford has been appointed as the new Chair for Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
To read both Bas Sadiq and Mary Elford’s full comments, visit here
Barts Trust helping patients feel more valued
After seeing a rise of attendances across emergency departments, staff at Barts Trust identified that there was a need for patients and those attending with them to be provided with food and drink.
Previously to this, refreshments would only be provided during winter, now catering staff are based within their three emergency departments: The Royal London, Whipps Cross and Newham.
On average around 650 hot meals are served across their emergency departments every week, with the decision over when refreshments are offered being led by the individual clinical teams. At the Royal London Hospital, you can also access refreshments on Whitechapel Road with 24-hour shops available, a small coffee shop in the main hospital entrance is open from 8am to 3pm daily, a hospital canteen on the 5th floor which is accessible via lift core 5, and a vending machine is available in the A&E waiting room.
Mel Crawford, associate director of patient catering and food services at Barts Health NHS Trust stated, ‘since it was rolled out, we have found that the service makes patients feel more valued and reduces their anxiety and also decreases the amount of abuse our staff receive’.
To read the full article and quote, visit here
Events in the City
The City of London Corporation are holding some fun events for young girls and women in the City, there is a self defence course and Zumba sessions.
For self defence visit here
For Zumba visit here
