Reaching out to our local community
We strive to make sure we hear from as wide a range of our diverse community as possible. We want to tell the people who make decisions and change things about the experiences everyone has with health and care services.
We understand that factors such as culture, location, wealth, education, environment and discrimination can lead to worse health outcomes, and we support the strong consensus that this must change. At Healthwatch Reading, we stand ready to help by doing more to amplify the voices of communities that go unheard and reduce the barriers they face.
Revamping Reading’s approach to the health of asylum seekers and refugees
Asylum seekers fleeing war torn countries are now getting quicker access to healthcare when they're placed in Reading by the Home Office.
GP surgeries improve customer service after hearing your stories
As a result of more than 330 local people sharing their frustrations in our survey, work began to improve GP phone systems and increase the number of face-to-face appointments.
Supporting vulnerable people during the pandemic
When the first Covid lockdown threatened to leave local people without vital medication, our team stepped in to deliver prescriptions to 1,100 residents.
Equipping vaccine champions with local messages
We've identified the top issues for community health champions to address when they work with local people in an upcoming scheme to improve Covid vaccination uptake.
The impact we made during COVID-19
Since COVID-19 has struck, it's more important than ever to support and listen.
Nationally, thanks to our network of Healthwatch we have been able to help the response to COVID-19 with rapid feedback from people who have had first-hand experience of services. We're making sure that everyone can use health services, including those that don't have the internet.
