Healthwatch Trafford annual report 2022-23

Our year in numbers

• 87 people shared their experiences of health and social care services with us, helping to raise awareness of issues and improve care.
• 24,876 people came to us over the phone and online for clear advice and information about topics such as mental health and COVID-19.
• We published 4 reports about the improvements people would like to see to health and social care services.
• Our most popular report was ‘Occupational Therapy Services: Assessments, Adaptations, and Equipment’ 
• We’re lucky to have 30 outstanding volunteers, who gave up 47 days to make care better for our community.
• We’re funded by our local authority. In 2022-23 we received £124,500 which is the same as the previous year.
• We currently employ 4 staff 

Celebrating 10 years of Healthwatch

It's the 10-year anniversary of Healthwatch, and we've had a look back at what we're achieved over the decade. With help from volunteers, local organisations, and the people of Trafford, we've made an impact on phlebotomy, urgent care, and Long COVID. We've also investigated inequalities in North Trafford and fed into larger pieces of work on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Most recently, we've been working with service providers to improve occupational therapy following out reports on the subject. Here's to another 10 years!

Highlights

• We re-started a programme of face-to-face engagement, connecting with local people across the borough.
• We drew attention to the issue of the NHS website not showing an accurate list of dental practices with open and closed lists.
• We created a joint strategy with the other Healthwatch in Greater Manchester to share information and expertise to transform health and social care services.
• We supported an intern from the University of Manchester who worked with us on our successful Occupational Therapy project.
• We took a closer look at parental mental health and reported on the experiences of people around the birth of their children.
• We took part in The Big Conversation, helping improve the ICP strategy for Trafford.
• We released a report on Occupational Therapy. Our recommendations were integrated into an action plan, and we attend service improvement meetings.

• We achieved a formalised pathway for our reports at the Local Authority and  Integrated Care Partnership, which will make a real difference to how our we are heard.

What's next?

We will be taking a closer look at the following three areas: