The Board to receive a presentation from Healthwatch.

Peter Edwards, Healthwatch Plymouth provided a presentation to the Board.  It was reported that –

(a)           Healthwatch are the health and social care consumer champion and the local voice for Plymouth;

(b)          Plymouth City Council commissioned Colebrook SW to host Healthwatch.  The aim of the organisation is to gather information, views and experiences from local people in order to scrutinise services; 

(c)           Healthwatch is a key, statutory member of the Health and Wellbeing Board;

(d)          the main strength of Healthwatch was its independence.  As a statutory member of the Board, Helathwatch is able to influence change and can engage the public in a mature debate about the future of Health and Social Care Services.

In response to questions raised, it was reported that -

(e)          it was an essential factor to facilitate back to the public the understanding of systems leadership and to have that debate;

(f)            as Healthwatch were independent the public needed to have an understanding of how Healthwatch worked with organisations, in particular its critical friend role and how those organisations respond to recommendations made by Healthwatch;

In response to questions and comments raised, it was reported that -

(g)           important questions had been raised which were critical to the future  of the Board and required further discussion;

(h)          the Plymouth On-line Directory (POD) was initially funded by the CCG and PCC and widely available in all libraries and GP surgeries and provides a wealth of information for the public to access.  Involving the public was critical for this Board and how we consult and on what, we need to ensure we get this right from the start with our commissioners.

Agreed that further discussion on the questions raised by Healthwatch should be a key part of the Board’s development in gaining a beneficial understanding of the complexities of the system and challenges.