News and reports

Take a look at what people in Sandwell are saying about their knowledge of Pharmacy First Service.

Healthwatch Sandwell collaborated with the NHS Youth Worker Team Manager in Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to create a report to spotlight a youth worker pilot project for young people with long term conditions. The short funding timelines for the pilot project were highlighted alongside the impacts. The spotlight report called for consideration of extension and time and funding for the pilot project work.

Join us at our next Independent Strategic Advisory Board meeting. All meeting details can be found below.

Here are the meeting minutes from our Independent Strategic Advisory Board meeting July 2024

Harvest View (opened 24th November 2022) is an integrated social care and health facility with 80 en-suite rooms alongside communal areas for Service Users who need specialist support from both social care and health staff all under one roof. The focus is on reablement1 with a view to helping Sandwell residents get back home after a hospital stay or those who need some structured support to avoid a hospital stay altogether.

Our Annual Report is now live! We have been working hard during 2023-2024 to listen to the voices of local people and influence changes in the services that people use.

Please see a snap shot of our Diabetes Prevention week information!

The rewards of foster caring extend far beyond the positive influence on a child; as fostering can lead to personal growth, fulfilment, and a sense of purpose to your own life. As of 31st March 2021, there were 45,370 fostering households and 76,640 foster carers in England. This is a 2% and 4% increase since 2014 to 2015, respectively.

Take a look at what the team have been doing!

What is a the GP Showcase?

Healthwatch Sandwell are aware the challenges people face regarding getting GP appointments. We would like to capture the other side of GP surgeries, what are surgeries doing to improve the patient experience?

This will help:

• Inform patients about improvements the surgeries are making

• Build relationships with Practice Managers and Patient Participation Groups (PPG)

• Promote PPGs


Here is our latest GP Showcase with Dr Arora Surgery. Please take a look to see how they are supporting their patients.

Here is a snapshot of what the team have been doing in March!

Healthwatch Sandwell is an independent organisation that champions the voice of Sandwell residents in their health and social care services. Experiences and insight gathered from engaging and listening to people is shared with health and social care providers and commissioners to help inform and improve services.

Successful management of living with diabetes and reducing associated health risks requires patient and health care services to work together. NHS healthcare services have a responsibility to ensure patients are offered diabetes management education, so that they are well informed and able to be involved in managing their condition and decisions about their care, including medications. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance also recommends an individualised approach, is required to meet any patients’ needs and circumstances including dietary advice, culture and beliefs.