Agenda item

This report is for information, sharing an update on the responses to recommendations made in Healthwatch York reports during 2024-25.

The report was presented by the Manager of Healthwatch York.

She explained that last year the board had agreed that there would be an annual review of Healthwatch reports and recommendations, to pull together partner responses and to see what had changed. Additionally, she had included items where ongoing work related to the themes and trends of the reports. For example, the ICB’s delivery plan for work around children and young people's mental health was a response to their Core Connectors work and listening to neurodivergent young people; this was not a direct response to reports and recommendations but gave an indication of the work going on.

She noted that she had spoken with the Chair regarding responses to the GP report, having felt that it would be useful to share this information directly with the GP practices themselves, to better enable them to respond. She was aware of some work that had been undertaken by GP practices in response to the report, that had had not formally been fed back as a response to the Healthwatch recommendations. Better communication here would ensure better visibility where recommendations had been acted upon.

Board members expressed concern that the report highlighted a continuing lack of progress with the transition of young people to adult services. It was pointed out that this was a particularly sensitive period where things could go drastically wrong. It was hoped that this could be pursued by Healthwatch again in the future. The Manager, Healthwatch York responded that this was an area where Healthwatch had an awareness that action was being taken (such as with Parent Carer Forum York) but this needed to be fully documented. She agreed that Healthwatch would reach out again and would bring the results to the board.

The board discussed the process by which this feedback was currently requested and received and how this could be refined.

Board members suggested that it could sometimes be unclear which organisation was intended to take ownership of the recommendations made by Healthwatch and asked if this could perhaps be more clearly stated in reports. The Manager, Healthwatch York said some of these things are a partnership responsibility and if partners have any concerns, we should agree this before chasing for responses.

She said Healthwatch had aimed to make clearer which partner was intended to lead on recommended actions but this was not always possible as some items required work across several organisations.

She suggested that if partners had concerns about how recommendations would be taken forward and by whom in the future, these could be raised when the report was presented. In the interest of partners being on the same page, she suggested this could be incorporated as part of the board’s general conversation about the report.

The board noted the response to “creating affordable social and community spaces” within the report, which discussed the Castle Gateway/Eye of York project, and members suggested that this response was somewhat lacking, asking if there was any further update or detail on this from a health generating perspective.

The Director of Public Health advised that in March 2026 there would be a HWBB development workshop headed by the Local Government Association in place of the usual board meeting. He stressed that Health and Wellbeing Boards typically did focus on the wider determinants of health, and perhaps as part of this workshop the board may wish to consider discussing broader items focusing on such matters as housing or green spaces, in as far as they relate to health.  In answer to the boards concerns, he said the council had published a list of intended Supplementary Planning Documents relating to this project, including an upcoming one on healthy spaces. 

The board thereby

Resolved:   To review the responses to recommendations and confirmed that they were satisfied with these.

Reason:      To keep up to date with the work of Healthwatch York and monitor progress regarding recommendations.