To receive the Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire Annual Report and a presentation on the focus for 2015/16.

The Chief Executive Officer for Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire introduced their Annual Report 2014/15 and gave a presentation that outlined the purpose of Healthwatch and its priorities for 2015-16.  Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire represent the consumer voice of children and adults on matters of health.  Along with events held to promote their work, a new website had been launched where residents can add comments about the care they receive.  Reports and evidence provided to Healthwatch was available on their website and sent to regulators for their information.

·         Priorities for 2015-16 included raising awareness of emerging models of care

·         Evidencing the journey of patients in a hospital setting and

·         To gather evidence from domiciliary care service users.

In light of the update and clarification sought, Members raised the following concerns:-

·         Whether Healthwatch was providing a signposting service to residents.  In response the Chief Executive Officer advised the organisation provided many roles that included announced and unannounced inspection visits to care homes, hospitals and other facilities as well as highlighting complaints they received to service providers.

·         Concern there was a £9k gap in funding and whether, with such a small number of staff, Healthwatch had taken on too much.  The Chief Executive Officer advised that work was mainly carried out by volunteers, however there was additional funding available for some projects that could be applied for.  The deficit in budget would be met by reserves.

Healthwatch aimed to achieve a volunteer base of 60 people and would continue to raise awareness at patient participation groups and youth conferences.

NOTED the update.