News and reports

Healthwatch England has recently published their response to the updated Accessible Information Standard (AIS), a key initiative designed to ensure that health and care services communicate effectively with people who have communication needs or disabilities.

Between April and June this year, 659 people across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough shared their experiences of local health and care services with us. Thank you to everyone who got in touch—your feedback helps us raise concerns, highlight good practice, and push for better care across the system.

Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve heard over the past three months.

Receive £20 an hour for formal meetings! We are working with NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough to recruit 8-10 local people to share lived experiences and local voices. Your insight will help to influence priority areas for your local NHS to focus on. You’ll help review NHS service proposals, offer insight into how changes might affect different people and communities, and advise on how the NHS can better involve and engage local people in meaningful, inclusive ways.

Thanks to your feedback, we’ve helped bring about meaningful improvements to local health and care services. Here are some of the ways your voice has made a difference:

After years of growing pressure on pharmacies — and 46,000 lost pharmacy hours here in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough — we’re pleased to see £617 million in new funding announced today by the Department of Health and Social Care and Community Pharmacy England.

The Carers Partnership Board has been working with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Partnership to improve services for carers who experience abuse. Our Healthwatch was invited to the launch of the Buses and Businesses against Abuse Campaign, and our Non-Executive Director, Frances Dewhurst, attended and has provided more information about the campaign.

Project Manager, Karen Igho, reflects on our recent Patient Participation Group (PPG) seminar held on 24th June 2024 at Huntingdon Library.

Living with the long-term condition endometriosis, Becki Dobbin describes herself as an ‘Endo Warrior’. It’s an appropriate title, as she has certainly had to battle to receive the care she needs over recent years.

There’s never a good time to break your ankle. But doing so outdoors on the hottest day of the year, and with the 999 emergency phone network completely out of action, might be one of the worst.

“I can’t watch the TV with two eyes.” That quip sums up all you need to know about Mia Hansson and her constant need to be doing something creative and meaningful with her time.

To mark the start of Carers' Week, we've released a video featuring Graham, our Partnership Development Manager, in conversation with Kadie Chapman.

Before we answer that question, you might be wondering what the Wheelchair User Forum is. Well, it brings together people who use wheelchairs, their carers, representatives from AJM Healthcare who are commissioned to provide the local wheelchair service, and commissioners from the Integrated Care System who deliver the NHS in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.