Healthwatch Croydon on the road
In October, I attended the Marmot Institute of Health Equity Conference in Aston University and heard about some remarkable work taking place on tackling heath inequalities. I heard from GPs working closely with their communities to implement digital strategies in a way that works well for patients, by listening to their needs and ways of engaging and then developing digital solutions. There was also a significant aspect on housing and how that affects health, emphasising the role that social housing plays in health and calling for a more integrated approach between health and housing. I also heard about a number of Marmot cities where health and social care services are working together to directly tackle health inequalities at place-level. It was a good opportunity to hear perspectives from different parts of the UK and I even got a chance chat to Sir Michael Marmot personally about his work in this area.
Our chair, Edwina, and I attended the Healthwatch England National conference at Westminster, with a chance to meet colleagues from across the Healthwatch Network as well as hearing from Dame Gillian Merron, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women's Health Strategy, about the government's plans for health and social care and the role Healthwatch can play in this. There was a good session on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees and a consultant psychiatrist on ways to improve access to diagnosis and support, and also one on how to design a national care service from the patient perspective.
Last week, I attended the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust AGM in Lambeth and heard some inspiring presentations from the South London Listens project about how engaging with communities was helping drive the Trust's strategy and wider plans across South London. You can find out more here. I also met a group of young mental health ambassadors working in their school in South East London to improve wellbeing and normalise conversations about mental health. Wouldn't it be great if something like this could be developed in Croydon? We also asked some questions about how patient insight was driving services and they mentioned the BME Wellness Centre in Croydon which was great as we helped provide insight for it before it launched in 2020. It is great to see that patient insight can influence change nearly six years on.
