Healthwatch Redbridge and Partners win National Award! - (Press release)

HEALTHWATCH REDBRIDGE WINS PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL AWARD

• Local health champion wins ‘Working with your integrated care system’ category in major national awards scheme

• Award recognises Healthwatch Redbridge for collaborating to provide fast, regular and comprehensive insight about people’s experiences of care

Healthwatch Redbridge has won a prestigious national award for joining forces with its neighbouring Healthwatch to provide fast, regular and comprehensive insight about people’s experiences of care with local service leaders.  

Healthwatch Redbridge was one of eight local Healthwatch who jointly won the ‘Working with your integrated care system’ category in the Healthwatch Awards 2021, which were run by Healthwatch England this week.

This virtual event celebrated the difference Healthwatch’s 4,300 staff and volunteers made over the past year and Healthwatch Redbridge was one of only a handful of local Healthwatch to win an award out of a total of 152 across England.

Healthwatch Redbridge worked together with seven partner Healthwatch* to provide North East London Health and Care Partnership with timely and valuable feedback which will help it develop services that meet the needs of its diverse population.

Commenting on the award, Healthwatch Redbridge chief executive, Cathy Turland,  said:

"We are extremely proud of the work that has been done across north east London, not least the work we as Local Healthwatch have contributed in working together to ensure local people have the opportunity to be included in the way health and care services are shaped in the future."

Lorraine Silver, Healthwatch Redbridge Chair added:

" We are overjoyed to have won the HWE Network Award together with the other LHWs. Working together enables us to engage with more residents across our patch and to also help improve health and social services for our residents. It is such an honour to receive this award which acknowledges all the hard work that has been done and encourages all of us to go forward and achieve much more."

Other Healthwatch Awards winners from around the country include:

• Healthwatch Reading for highlighting the issues asylum seekers experienced when trying to access healthcare during the pandemic.
• Healthwatch Essex which launched a campaign in response to reports of people with sensory impairments being verbally abused for inadvertently contravening lockdown measures, such as blind people breaching the two-metre rule.  
• Healthwatch Islington for its volunteer ‘digital champions’ who worked to improve the skills of people who were unfamiliar with or without access to the internet so they could still access vital services during the pandemic.

Sir Robert Francis QC, Chair of Healthwatch England, said:

“The last 16 months have been a time of unprecedented challenge as we all grappled with the impact of COVID-19, yet Healthwatch across England all rose to meet that challenge magnificently and went the extra mile to look after their local communities in a moment of crisis.

“The Healthwatch Awards have been a fantastic chance to showcase how Healthwatch makes such a difference to people’s lives and Healthwatch Redbridge’s tireless work for its community during the pandemic is a perfect example of this. I would like to congratulate the Healthwatch Redbridge team for their achievements and dedication to the local people they serve.”

Sir Robert added:

“The awards also serve to highlight how, by sharing your experience with Healthwatch or giving up your time to volunteer, you can make a real difference to your community.”

The award was presented during Healthwatch Week – a virtual conference celebrating the vital work of Healthwatch which featured high-profile speakers including NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and historian and BAFTA award-winning TV presenter Professor David Olusoga.

There is a local Healthwatch in each of the 152 local authority areas in England. They supported over two million people to have their say on care or get the advice they need in 2020/21.

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