December 2023 Welcome to the December update of the West Yorkshire Voice. We wanted to tell you about some of the work, and ways to get involved in West Yorkshire Voice. Access to Primary Care - West Yorkshire Board Engagement Session (November) At the Integrated Care Board meeting on 21st November Healthwatch ran an engagement session aimed to share people’s positive experiences of accessing Primary Care and GPs in West Yorkshire. We talked about how positive experiences and examples of good practice can be shared to make things better for more people. We know that we hear that experience can be variable from practice to practice and even within practices, and a report highlighting the challenges is outlined here, but we wanted to showcase the positive experiences when people tell us their practices are getting it right. You can see the slides from the presentation here Following the meeting, Cathy Elliott, Chair of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, said: “It was wonderful to see over forty people at the engagement session, including general practice managers and primary care network directors, bringing their thoughts and experiences into the room to contribute to plans for primary care across the system.” “It was good to hear the positive feedback from general practice staff (Rebecca and Natalie) who have worked at Burley Park Medical Centre in Leeds for many years. It was clear that their positive working environment has a direct impact on the good patient care they deliver, including good levels of communication within the team and with patients.” “It was also interesting to hear about the work taking place in Calderdale to support refugees and people seeking asylum, and the joined-up support between the general practice and St Augustine’s Refugee Centre – it was inspiring. The session reiterated that there is fantastic general practice care taking place and some good learning to share about the brilliant work colleagues do.” “The challenges around accessing support for primary care and how this is a priority area for improving health outcomes set out in our Joint Forward Plan was extremely useful to highlight. The roundtable discussions reflected some of the areas we all want to see improve, for example, how we free up doctors’ time with less bureaucracy. This was a productive conversation and the challenges to overcome were noted.” Ian Holmes, Director for Strategy and Partnerships NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board said: “The pre-engagement session provided a good opportunity to remind us of the many positive patient and staff experiences. It was noted that variation across West Yorkshire exists, and we are keen to share learning and good practice from those that have introduced new ways of working which is making a positive difference to people’s lives.” “Empowering patients through effective communication and enabling local mechanisms for listening to their views is a prerequisite of the Recovery Plan and an area that was also highlighted during the pre-engagement session.” “Our Access Improvement and Oversight Group will continue to lead this area of work and have oversight of the implementation of the plan alongside quality improvement. The group will also consider actions, share new innovative models of delivery supported through the communications access recovery enabling workstream.” We will continue to be involved in work around improving access to GPs and primary care and will provide updates on actions taken and outcomes as a result of the feedback that has been shared. If you have any questions, would like to provide any feedback or be involved in the ongoing work related to primary care, please get in touch by emailing Jude, West Yorkshire Voice Coordinator, at info@westyorkshirehealthwatch.co.uk or telephone 0113 8980035. Winter Healthcare In January we have the opportunity to share what’s important to you when accessing healthcare services in winter. Does anything worry you about your health and healthcare services in winter? What are you doing to help keep yourself well in winter? What can Healthcare services do to help keep you well in Winter? Click here to answer these questions If you would like any help answering the questions, or to provide any further feedback please get in touch by emailing Jude, West Yorkshire Voice Coordinator, at info@westyorkshirehealthwatch.co.uk or telephone 0113 8980035. Health Information – Testers Needed! West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership often share information about health and healthcare services with the public. It is important that everyone can understand this information so we want to ask West Yorkshire Voice members if they can help - could you be an online communications tester? Becoming a tester involves joining the Communications Feedback Group and working with Christine Hughes, one of the Partnership’s communications managers. What would I have to do? Receive information in an email, read it and send Christine your feedback. Go to some online meetings to look at information and give your feedback. How much time will be needed? You can get involved as much as you want to. We understand that sometimes you might be busy and may not be able to respond to an email or attend a meeting. We estimate members of the group will receive around six emails every month, and the online meetings will be every two months. If you are interested or want to find out more contact Christine.

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