News and reports

Minutes of the committee meeting held on 02 February 2024.

Minutes of committee meeting held on 08 November 2023

The sudden rise in energy prices and accompanying increase in inflation in 2022 led to a big leap in the cost of living for people in the UK and wage growth since summer 2021 had not kept pace with inflation. Added to this, inflation has been higher in essential goods and services such as food prices. The cost-of-living crisis has dropped out of the news over the summer, but Citizens Advice Bureau Newcastle reports that there has been no drop-off in requests for support, especially around financial matters, and material support.

Healthwatch Gateshead and Healthwatch Newcastle undertook a joint research project to engaged with retirement-age residents of Gateshead and Newcastle to understand their experiences of loneliness and isolation. The project focused on three key areas including:

• Any factors people felt contributed to feelings of loneliness & isolation and its prevalence in people’s lives. 
• Awareness and use of local services that focused on reducing loneliness and isolation.
• What worked well and areas for development.

We collected data from the survey from January 2023 to April 2023, and circulated both a digital survey and a paper-based survey format.

The key findings are:

• Loneliness can occur to anyone, and in particularly felt by those aged between 65 and 74, are women, and are carers. 
• Loneliness is not simply a symptom of getting older but is instead prevalent when the needs of older people are not effectively taken care of. This is especially important in terms of access and mobility, including travel routes and venues for activities.
• Loneliness is something often felt for a long period of time and felt more actively in those aged between 65 and 74, possibly due to recent retirement and bereavement.
• Social activities are often the most successful in engaging older people, and community-based groups are well-received.
• Users who engage with some services are more likely to engage with multiple, services though there is a high rate of respondents here who do not participate at all.
• Key issues preventing potential users from engaging with services are poor transport options and a lack of development of local facilities.
• There is interest in specific activities, like physical fitness and arts activities for some people within some communities.

Our key recommendations are:

• Support those leaving the workforce in adjusting to the changes that retirement brings.
• Work with communities to create community action plans to make sure local facilities are being utilised effectively and for the benefit of local communities.
• Improve service infrastructure to ensure maximum reach and accessibility
• Establish a focus group or engagement group to help services better understand how to reach older people.

Minutes of committee meeting held on 16th August 2023

Minutes of the committee meeting held on 24th May 2023

This policy applies to all relevant decisions made by Tell Us North, Healthwatch Newcastle and Healthwatch Gateshead.

Read our annual report and all that we have done through the year as your local Healthwatch.

Healthwatch Newcastle engaged with local people to understand their experiences booking and
receiving all of their Coronavirus vaccination(s). The project was prompted by feedback from a
small number of local residents who shared their experiences of the Coronavirus vaccination
process. Read the full report here :-

Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into
NHS Dentistry Submission

Healthwatch Newcastle (HWN) engaged with autistic people and people with a learning disability to understand their experiences accessing and using GP services in Newcastle. GP Practice Managers across Newcastle were invited to share information around their processes for requesting and implementing reasonable adjustments and their capacity to make requested adjustments. Read our full report here :-

Healthwatch Gateshead and Healthwatch Newcastle recently engaged with local residents to understand experiences and opinions of the North East Ambulance Service. We wanted to understand public perceptions of the service, what trust means to the public, and overall levels of trust felt towards NEAS.
Overall, feedback was positive, however, most of those we consulted felt that they could not fully trust NEAS. Specific elements of trust were identified and included:
- Reliability, Availability, and Responsiveness
- Delivering a High Standard of Care
- Integrity and the Alignment of Words & Actions
- Patients’ Safety

Our full report is available to read here