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Carers Lanyard: Healthwatch Kirklees launch a project to distribute carer lanyards to health and social settings throughout Kirklees.

In 2017, Healthwatch Kirklees completed engagement with residents, carers and staff in care homes relating to a proposal to allocate one GP practice to each individual care home, rather than having multiple GP practices serving each home. In September 2020, Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group (GHCCG) & North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group (NKCCG) began to allocate one or more GP practices to work with each nursing or residential home in Kirklees based on national guidance provided by NHS England. This gave Healthwatch Kirklees the opportunity to see how our previous findings and recommendations had shaped this new way of working.

The Kirkwood got in touch with Healthwatch Kirklees to ask if we could support them to gather feedback about their services. They have recently rebranded and have many new plans for the service. The Kirkwood felt that working in partnership would help them to reach more people and, as Healthwatch Kirklees is an independent organisation, people would feel comfortable giving us their views.

Healthwatch Kirklees received written confirmation from the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) that the Huddersfield Assessment Centre for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessments (WCA) was expected to close in June/July 2018.

We have now been told that the Huddersfield Assessment Centre has been closed from 10th September 2018.

In the last 6 months we have heard stories from people who have had their Continuing Health Care packages changed and replaced with social care support instead. This is often for people with long term, severe illness.

Kirklees Council wanted to ensure that respite provision within Kirklees met the needs of service users and carers.

When Healthwatch Kirklees heard that North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had some ideas which might improve health services for care home residents, we very much wanted to be part of the engagement process, to ensure that as many people as possible could hear about the ideas and have their say on things which may affect them in future.

In early March 2017 we received information from patients in Kirklees and Calderdale, who had used the posture and mobility service, that they were concerned over long waiting lists and equipment which was unfit for purpose.

We also found that positive feedback was submitted to the Healthwatch Calderdale website from some patients who did not have complex or changing needs.

During 2017, Healthwatch Kirklees repeatedly heard stories from people who were struggling to return equipment they no longer needed; things like crutches, zimmer frames and wheelchairs.

People either didn’t know where to return it or, when they tried to return it, they were often told they’d gone to the wrong place or that the service didn’t want it back.