Missed all the fun of the Healthwatch Network Awards at #Healthwatch2021? Here's a recap of this year's winners.

Work to prevent the abuse of people with sensory impairments, help reunite care home residents with their families and train people to access their care online are just three of the projects that have been recognised at the annual Healthwatch awards.

The awards were presented during Healthwatch Week – a virtual conference celebrating the vital work of Healthwatch which featured high-profile speakers including NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and historian and BAFTA award-winning TV presenter/producer Prof David Olusoga.

In 2020/21 Healthwatch across the country supported over two million people to have their say on care or get the advice they needed. Our annual awards celebrate?the work of more than 4,000 local Healthwatch volunteers and staff who help the public with advice and find out the issues people face with NHS and social care so that services can improve.

Find out more about this year's winners

Engagement

Healthwatch Reading was recognised for highlighting the issues local asylum seekers experienced during the pandemic when trying to access healthcare. These included unsafe breaks in medication or treatment due to being moved from other parts of the UK, and delayed access to NHS prescriptions and dental care due to bureaucracy.

COVID-19 response

Healthwatch Essex’s campaign was launched in response to reports of people with sensory impairments being verbally abused for inadvertently contravening lockdown measures, such as blind people breaching the two-meter rule. The campaign reached over 160,000 people, increasing awareness of the unique challenges some sensory impaired people faced during the pandemic.

Celebrating our volunteer team

Healthwatch Islington’s volunteer ‘digital champions’ worked to improve the skills of people who were unfamiliar with or without access to the internet so they could still access vital services during the pandemic. This was hugely helpful after many services quickly moved online.

Tackling inequalities

Healthwatch Leeds highlighted the concerns of care home residents during the pandemic and helped to develop a plan for how families could safely visit their loved ones again. The judges praised Healthwatch Leeds for providing a platform for some of the most vulnerable and voiceless in society at a time when their safety and wellbeing wasn’t always being prioritised.

Working with your integrated care system

A group of eight Healthwatch in North East London came together to provide the NHS with fast, regular and comprehensive insight about people’s experiences of care across a region covering nearly two million people.

This included collaborative work from Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham, Healthwatch City of London, Healthwatch Hackney, Healthwatch Havering, Healthwatch Newham, Healthwatch Redbridge, Healthwatch Tower Hamlets and Healthwatch Waltham Forest.

Sir Robert Francis QC, Chair of Healthwatch England, said:

“The last 16 months have been a time of unprecedented challenge as we all grappled with the impact of COVID-19, yet Healthwatch across England all rose to meet that challenge magnificently and went the extra mile to look after their local communities in a moment of crisis.

“The Healthwatch Awards have been a fantastic chance to showcase how Healthwatch makes such a difference to people’s lives and its tireless work during the pandemic is a perfect example of this. The awards also serve to highlight how, by sharing your experience with Healthwatch or giving up your time to volunteer, you can make a real difference to your community.”