Agenda item

This report updates the Health and Wellbeing Board on the progress of Healthwatch Brent.

Veronica Awuzudike (Healthwatch Brent Manager) introduced the update which provided a follow-up report on the engagement undertaken by Healthwatch Brent between June to September 2020 including insights into how residents found Health and Social Care services during COVID-19. Healthwatch Brent expressed they were pleased with the engagement they had received from residents with approximately 584 pieces of engagement during the review period resulting in approximately 1,000 pieces of engagement overall from Brent residents. Veronica Awuzudike believed that it was one of the largest pieces of engagement at least regionally if not nationally from any Healthwatch, and highlighted they had been able to access groups that were not usually engaged such as those with Sickle Cell and South Asian people living with HIV. She drew the Board’s attention to the following key points:

• Residents were happy with the walk-in testing services, particularly the Harlesden testing site. Residents found the service fast and safe to manage.
• There had been praise for Councillors and residents recognised the hard work of the Council and Public Health department. It was reported that residents were proud of the support they had been given.
• There was a push from residents for clearer messages of assurance that services would not close or be paused as a result of a second wave of COVID-19.
• The engagement had brought to light the high level of digital poverty in the Borough resulting in digital exclusion. Healthwatch Brent encouraged initiatives that looked to address long term poverty that was not a single step action.
• Healthwatch Brent had partnered with the Advocacy Project, a group based in Brent gathering insights from clients with complex learning disabilities, who were able to share insights with Healthwatch for those clients facing digital exclusion. Further case studies throughout the report were also drawn to the Board’s attention.
• Healthwatch Brent were working with the Public Health team and were part of the health inequalities reference group where they would take resident insights to ensure the project was structured with residents in mind.
• There were sentiments of anti-vaccination amongst some communities in Brent therefore Healthwatch were working with the CCG to develop messaging to those communities.

As part of the discussion, Board members highlighted a clear need across health and social care to look beyond the broad description of BAME to further understand the needs of diverse individual communities, as each particular community had their own requirements and needs, and Brent should aspire to provide care in a culturally sensitive way.

In response to queries regarding anti-vaccination sentiments, Veronica Awuzudike highlighted that those messages came from a lack of trust where people were less likely to feel that the messaging being given to them was good for them. A significant amount of work had been done within the Council, CCG and Public Health to find new ways of partnering with residents to ensure maintenance of trust, with the view that the health inequalities reference and task groups would be good forums to do that work and ensure sustainability across the life cycle of residents in Brent.

Regarding digital poverty, Veronica Awuzudike advised that the Council needed to further understand the residents who were being given computer devices to ensure sustainability. For example, a resident who had been given a laptop might not know how to use it but would be able to use a computer if they accessed a library computer and had help. In addition the need for accessible internet was raised. The Board heard that there were areas of the Borough with very poor access to Wifi, 4G and mobile network access, often resulting in residents having to opt for higher cost providers which were not affordable. Veronica Awuzudike highlighted that there were volunteering networks and partners who worked well with people in the local community and Healthwatch were leveraging the partnerships they had in Brent to ensure they brought people into the conversation.

In response to how residents could get involved formally with Healthwatch, Veronica Awuzudike advised that overall due to COVID-19 Healthwatch had seen an increase in the number of volunteers looking to partner with them and the work plan had changed as a result of COVID-19, with Healthwatch were looking at new ways to manage volunteers and get the most out of them. Healthwatch were also looking at developing a Youth Healthwatch with specific projects that Healhwatch could oversee.

Julie Pal (CEO Healthwatch Brent) addressed a query regarding Healthwatch’s work with PALS. She advised that Healthwatch Brent had a good working relationship with PALS and Voiceability and the previous Healthwatch Manager, Ian Niven, had established regular meetings with them. They would look to introduce Veronica Awuzudike to the sector of information, complaints and advocacy and rebuild those links. Through the Healthwatch Brent Advisory Board a strong relationship had been developed with the Head of Complaints for Adult Social Care, who had been attending meetings and taking on cases where community partners had talked about residents struggling to access services.

Responding to a query, Trusha Patel (Healthwatch Brent) highlighted that crime, street cleanliness and the environment were discussed by residents. Particularly residents were concerned about safer good housing where there was multi-generational living, safety in parks due to an increase in people going for walks, and fly tipping and pest control. These sorts of concerns had been picked up through WhatsApp messages and next door neighbour apps, through smaller groups talking to each other amongst themselves.

Simon Crawford (Director of Strategy, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust) requested support to encourage the community that hospitals was safe to attend. Whilst the Trust had put communications out it was important the networks in place also reassured people as much as possible. There were safe pathways in place so anyone who attended A&E who were assessed for potential COVID-19 presentations went through a separate pathway and remained there until their COVID-19 status was known. If a patient did test positive they were put in dedicated wards so that admissions into hospital were not mixed. For those attending for elective procedures a COVID-19 test was taken before they attended with the procedure only going ahead if the test was negative. Healthwatch agreed to put out communications regarding attending hospital.

RESOLVED: to note the report.