Our key projects
Read the Healthwatch Decision Making Policy & Procedure to find out how we decide on our key projects.
Key projects
Alongside our day-to-day work we carry out key projects to find out more about particular issues or services.
Find out what we're working on
Everything we do is guided by what people tell us about their experiences of health and social care. Find out more about our current projects and how you can get involved.
Improving patient experience of mental health services
It is clear from the feedback and enquiries that we receive that there is growing demand for mental health care in Wolverhampton and mental health services remain an area of great concern for local people. People have told us about difficulties accessing services, a lack of information and patient involvement, and health inequalities. Alongside the closure of some local services, this is affecting the quality of patient experience.
In 2024, we engaged with people who use mental health services. We will shortly report our findings and work with those who lead and provide services to improve the quality of patient experience. We will also evaluate how the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for mental health services in Wolverhampton, is involving service users in the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework to improve the experience for people from racialised communities (Black, Asian and minority ethnicities).
Making hospital care more accessible
We often hear about the challenges around hospital care, including long waiting lists, poor communication, problems with discharge and referrals, and poor care. While the feedback we receive about care involving hospitals is varied there are common themes of poor care, communication and lack of access, so we want to explore this further.
Our feedback data shows that people with dementia, learning disabilities, autism, the deaf community, and those whose first language is not English are at a high level of disadvantage because their access needs are not being met. For example, we have heard many times of appointments being missed due to the lack of timely and quality language translation service. The deaf community and those with hearing loss are reporting that they have no means of responding to letters about booking appointments, and that many hospital and secondary care settings are not following the Accessible Information Standards.
In 2025 we will work with local organisations to investigate these issues further and make cost saving, impactful recommendations to improve care and access for everyone.
Improving the quality of care homes
Improving the quality of care homes in Wolverhampton is a local priority. As part of our partnership working with the City of Wolverhampton Council and the Care Quality Commission, we will use our statutory powers to ‘Enter and View’ publicly funded care homes in the city to speak to people about their experience of using the service.
During these visits, we will look at the quality of service and the environment; collect feedback from patients, residents, carers, and relatives; and we may also speak to care home staff. We will identify areas for improvement and areas of best practice, and we will report our findings, including recommendations for change based on what people tell us.
Read our latest reports: Penn Hospital Mental Health Unit | Wrottesley Park House Care Home
Finding out what matters to you
Throughout the year, we raise awareness of our work among Wolverhampton’s diverse communities and gather your feedback about local health and social care services. We tell those responsible for NHS and social care in the city about the issues that matter to you and share your ideas for how things could be done differently to improve care.
