Healthwatch Sutton receives highly commended recognition at national awards
The work done by Healthwatch Sutton has been recognised as 'Highly Commended' in this year's Healthwatch Network Awards in the 'Helping more people to have thier say' category.
We surveyed over 5000 children and young people in half of the secondary schools in Sutton to find out how young people scored on a 'wellbeing' scale, as well as the mental health challenges they've experienced and the support available to them.
The work was instrumental in the application process that secured an extra £1.8million of funding for schools to support mental health in young people. We are now working to ensure that this funding is used to focus on the issues highlighted in the report.
Every year, the Healthwatch Network Awards celebrate the many positive stories of how the local Healthwatch network is helping to make care better for thousands of people. The awards are an opportunity to demonstrate where local Healthwatch worked within the local community to make sure health and social care services meet people's needs.
Healthwatch listen to what people like about the NHS and social care and what needs to be improved. Their views are shared with health and care professionals, so that services can understand what people and their families want from care.
These awards recognise how people’s feedback is vital to improving services. Thanks to the many hundreds of thousands of people who share their experiences with Healthwatch last year. This has led to positive changes to the way local health and care services are run.
The local Healthwatch shortlisted for 2019 Healthwatch Network Awards were picked from almost 150 award entries.
The winner and the highly commended from each category were chosen by a panel of external judges and announced at the Healthwatch England Annual Conference last week on 1st October 2019.
David Williams, Chair of Healthwatch Sutton, said:
"To be recognised on a national level by Healthwatch England is a reward for the quality of the work that is carried out, every day, by the Healthwatch Sutton team.
We are incredibly proud of this achievement, and even prouder of the 5000 children and young people who took part in this survey. Your views are helping to shape mental health services in Sutton."
Imelda Redmond, CBE, National Director of Healthwatch England, said:
"The Healthwatch Network Awards is a fantastic event which showcases the very best of local Healthwatch and it's an opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate the impact our teams and volunteers have in improving health and care across the country.
The awards demonstrate the breadth of issues local Healthwatch work on every year. Their work makes sure people's experiences are placed at the heart of the services they receive.
I'd like to acknowledge and thankall the network and congratulate those who took part, they have done their communities proud."
