Help improve health and social care services for disabled people

Share your experiences with using local health and social care services with Healthwatch

This Disability History Month, Healthwatch are promoting the work done by the Adult Social Care Partnership Boards in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and asking you to get involved to help make health and care services work better for disabled people.

The Partnership Boards bring together people who use health and social care services – called Independent Members – with the professionals who make decisions about services. This includes voluntary and community sector providers, and Peterborough City and Cambridgeshire County Councils who plan and pay for services.

There are five Partnership Boards that work across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough representing the needs of disabled people, older people and carers. Independent members make up half the membership of each Board. And each Board is Chaired by an Independent Member.

The Independent Members are supported by Healthwatch in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, who organise the Partnership Board meetings and provide support and training to help people in their roles. This is funded by Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough City Councils.

Tacking problems with care

Independent Board Members get involved the design, delivery and evaluation of health and care services. Independent Members tell the Adult Social Care teams at the Councils about the issues that affect people receiving services.

They told the Councils that people who had care assessments were not always getting their assessment reports. This meant these individuals’ identified needs were not always being met. The Councils investigated and found that this was related to a computer issue. They fixed the problem and provided extra training to social care team members to make sure it did not happen again.

During the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, Independent Members raised important issues for blind and visually impaired people. They reported the difficulties people had using supermarket websites and identifying items received from food parcel deliveries. The Sensory Impairment Partnership Board suggested solutions to help the Councils make sure that people’s needs were met.

About Healthwatch Cambridgeshire

“We are the independent champion for people who use health and social care services in Cambridgeshire. Our role is to make sure that those that run local health and social care services understand and act on what really matters to people.

We listen to what people say about services and what they think could be improved. We encourage services to involve people in decisions that affect them. We also help people find the information they need about services in their area.”

www.healthwatchcambridgeshire.co.uk

I AM Cambridge: Inclusion and Access in Cambridge

Disability History Month 2020: Gathering, sharing, celebrating, campaigning and archiving experiences of inclusion and accessibility in Cambridge. Raising awareness to bring about change through stories, memories, history and the arts.