Healthwatch City of London May Newsletter
Chat from our Chair
Welcome to our May newsletter! We have all of the details for our upcoming events, especially the return of our Health in the City Day, happening on 21st June. Join us and the Neaman practice to find out more about staying healthy, and how to access the services you need locally and meet those who plan and deliver our care. It’s also a great opportunity to meet your neighbours and of course meet us at HWCoL. You might find you want to help us in our work; we would love to meet some potential volunteers. More information is down below. In other news we are now starting our summer Patient Panel sessions, with the first one being on skin cancer awareness.
We are pleased to share that our St Bartholomew’s Enter and View report has been published, you will remember we conducted an Enter and View at their Cardiology Department, as a result of feedback from patients about issues with communication and administration. David Curran, Director of Nursing at St Bartholomew’s Hospital will be joining us at our next Board meeting in Public to discuss the report and tell us about what’s changed.
We are keeping a close eye on announcements about any changes as a result of the winding up of NHS England and the development of a new approach to the running of Integrated Care Boards across England including keeping you up to date with and how they will work in the future, more on that next month.
Finally, we would like to congratulate Helen Fentimen, Court of Common Councillor for Aldersgate on her appointment as Chair of the City of London Health and Wellbeing Board and we look forward to working with her. We’d like to extend our thanks to Mary Durcan, the outgoing chair, for her support over the past few years and we wish her the very best.
We look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming events.
Gail Beer
Chair, Healthwatch City of London
Health in the City Day 2025 with the Neaman practice!
Following the success of last year’s event, by popular demand we are holding another Health in the City Day. Join us and the Neaman Practice on Saturday 21st June, at the Golden Lane Community Centre from 10am – 1pm. Last year nearly 100 of you joined us and many asked that we hold another event this year. The good news is there will be an opportunity to get some basic health checks done such as blood pressure and blood sugar readings, both important indicators of health and remember changes caught early can really help in managing the risk of any potential impact on your health.
You’ll have the chance to meet those teams that provide health and social care services to you. Meet the Neaman Practice team, the Primary Care Network team who provide out of hours GP services, the team that will also be checking your blood pressure and blood sugar. A host of others will also be joining, including City Carers Community, IMAGO, Older Peoples Reference Group, Age UK City of London, Dragon Café in the City, Advocacy Project, Better Together, Primary Care Network (PCN), NHS NEL Cancer Alliance, Gloji (City and Hackney Smoke Free Service) and there will be wellbeing activities to take part in.
And for the children there will be face painting!
We are very much looking forward to seeing you all there.
To register visit here
*NEW REPORT* Enter and View at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Cardiology department
Last year we conducted an Enter and View at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, because of feedback from patients about poor levels of communication from the cardiology department.
Following an online survey to establish the scope of the problems, our team, with a group of volunteers, went to St Bartholomew’s Hospital and spoke to the managers and staff responsible for the communications and administration of cardiology appointments managers. We used our tailored survey to interview both staff members and patients, the information we then received was able to lead to our findings and recommendations. Our findings and recommendations were sent to the team at St Bartholomew's Hospital for comment, they have now responded to all our recommendations. Their responses can be found in our report.
Our top three recommendations were
- Consistency of systems used across the department.
There are a number of systems used to record duplicate information; the reduction of systems could be beneficial alongside clear training schedules for staff members using these systems.
- Consistency within letter templates and patient information.
Currently each team within the department has a different letter template which creates an inconsistency with patients receiving different amounts of information, such as some patients receive telephone numbers and email addresses, and some patients have little information. A procedure for checking if information is correct before letters are sent should also be implemented to reduce the number of errors.
- Times for appointments available.
From our staff interviews, there was an inconsistent response from staff members and managers to the waiting times for appointments.
The team at St Bartholomew’s responded to our recommendations, and you can find these responses in the report.
You can read the full report on our website or you can email us info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk for a printed copy.
Save the date for our Board meeting in public with St Bartholomew’s Hospital!
Following our Enter and View we are pleased to announce that David Curran, Director of Nursing and Governance at St Bartholomew’s Hospital will be joining us at our upcoming Board meeting in public on Friday, 6th June at 10:30am to 12pm at the Golden Lane Community Centre. David will be sharing his insight and response to our recent Enter and View report at St Bartholomew’s as well as taking questions from you.
Spaces are limited so register NOW
Get involved in our Patient Panels
Skin Cancer Awareness and Prevention
As the weather gets warmer and the UV increases, it’s vital to protect your skin and know the potential warning signs for skin cancer.
We’ll be joined by Dr Thomas McLeod, GP and clinical lead on North East London Cancer Alliance skin cancer risk reduction campaign. He will be sharing information on how to prevent skin cancer, how to spot the warning signs and services City residents are able to access.
Join us on Wednesday, 28th May, from 2:30pm to 4pm at the Golden Lane Community centre, lower ground.
To join us, please register here
Look out for our upcoming Patient Panels on Womb and Ovarian Cancer and CPR Training.
HWCoL and IMAGO event during Carers week
Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. This is a national campaign being held between 9th – 15th June.
This year Healthwatch City of London are joining IMAGO to say a thank you to all the unpaid carers in the City. We are holding an afternoon tea at the Guildhall on Thursday 12th June from 2pm to 4pm.
If you’d like to join us please register here
Give us your feedback through our Annual Survey
We have launched our 2025/26 Annual Survey designed to give you the opportunity to tell us how we are doing if we are achieving our goals and if those goals resonate with you, it helps us to shape the local objectives we spoke about earlier.
This is your chance to give your opinion on us, Healthwatch City of London. You can let us know what you think of us and health and social care in the City by completing the survey below. You’ll also have the chance to let us know where you think we should focus our efforts and where you think we have been successful, and what more you'd like to see from us.
You can complete the survey here
Meetings we attend for you
Our team attends meetings on your behalf to make sure the residents in the City of London are represented, this month our team attended the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Steering group and the Falls Prevention review at the Homerton University Hospital Foundation Trust.
Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Steering group
The City of London Health and Wellbeing Board have a statutory responsibility to publish a Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) every three years, this looks at the needs for pharmaceutical services for the population. This PNA provides an overview of the demographics and health and wellbeing needs of the City of London’s population. The group have now closed the needs assessment survey, receiving 175 responses across City and Hackney, 69 of those were from the City. The report is being written and will be sent out to stakeholders for consultation in early June and the final assessment will be published in Autumn. The needs assessment will identify the services provided by pharmacies across City and Hackney and make recommendations if any gaps in services are identified.
Falls Prevention review at the Homerton
City and Hackney Public Health have commissioned the Staying Steady falls prevention service since 2005 which includes strength and balance classes for people aged 55 who are at risk of falling (due to problems with strength and balance), have had a fall or who are worried about having a fall. In October 2024 it was announced that funding for this service would end. City and Hackney Public Health team said ‘a decision was made not to continue commissioning this service due to the need to prioritise Public Health investment in primary prevention activity with a broader reach’.
This latest meeting of the falls prevention group outlined the evidence already given by service providers and residents, which surrounds the feedback from residents in City and Hackney who have used the Falls Prevention services, including the Staying Steady course at the Golden Lane Community Centre. City and Hackney Public Health are currently looking to change the falls prevention pathway to ensure that it is best fit for residents, both for preventing a fall and recovering from a fall. HWCoL have carried out engagement across City and Hackney which will also be included in the review.
Our Local Priorities and what we’re focusing on for you
Back in early April the HWCoL Board and staff met to review both our long-term objectives and local priorities for the coming year. We review every year, looking at what’s happening in health and social care both nationally and regionally and how this may impact on local care, what has changed, what’s not changed, but might need to and what you are telling us about local services. We needed to make sure that our local priorities were still relevant to you and that we focus on making an impact where it matters. One of our main focuses for this year will be to increase our engagement in the Portsoken community.
You can find the full list of priorities on our website
Our priorities are based on what we think will be able to bring the most amount of change and impact to our community. We want to hear what you think, to give your input, please email us at info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
Our Public Launch and Patient Panel for our Digital Apps: A help or hindrance? Understanding and accessing digital healthcare apps report
On Friday, 25th April we held a Public Launch and Patient Panel to support our Digi Apps Report, to discuss the findings of our report and how we can make a difference.
We were joined by Madeleine Maxwell, Digital Inclusion Lead at Homerton Hospital who discussed her thoughts on the report, agreeing with both the findings and recommendations, and emphasising the importance of our research which has been circulated to decision makers in North East London. She also spoke about the work her and the team are currently conducting to ensure that people who can’t or choose not to use technology are not left behind and that we don’t create inequalities in access to services. This includes making sure there are resources where people are able to learn how to use the technology they need as well as making sure traditional methods of communicating with your health services are always available.
There was a lively Q&A with local residents asking plenty of questions and making plenty of suggestion after which we had a chance to talk about the report informally over lunch.
To read our report, visit here
Elsewhere in Health and Social Care
Carers UK Conference - 60 Years
On 29th April, Shirley Islam, a carer and part of City Carers Community attended the Conference, with the theme ‘Equality Today and Tomorrow’. Shirley shared ‘that with over 400 unpaid carers in attendance in person online there was much to learn. It was astounding to realise the first legal recognition of caring was in 1967, through to the most recent law change Carer's leave’.
The helpful information stalls highlighted what support carers are able to access, such as Kidney Care UK, who offer counselling and holiday grants for carers looking after those with kidney disease, WEA, Workers’ Educational Association, an adult education charity who have free courses for adults over the age of 19, as well as courses specifically designed for Carers.
To access more of Carers UK resources, such as financial support and practical support, visit their website
Focusing on prevention for heart care
In the latest Barts Health newsletter, they have shared how they’re changing the way cardiac care is delivered by focusing on prevention. Clinicians at Barts Health Cardiac Centre are focusing their attention on preventing people from developing heart disease to avoid the need for hospital care. This not only directly helps people to stay healthy but also helps reduce the strain on the NHS as hopefully there will be fewer patients needing care.
Andrew Wragg, Medical Director at St Bartholomew’s Hospital stated, “treating someone after a heart attack will always be part of our job but preventing that heart attack in the first place – that’s where we can make the biggest difference.” In order for a preventative approach to be successful, teams focus on the social and lifestyle influences that affect heart health, as well as reducing risk factors such as high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.
To read the full article, visit here
Join the Neaman Practice’s Patient Participation Group (PPG) meetings
PPG meetings are where you can voice your feedback and experiences as a patient of the Neaman Practice directly to the partners and managers of the Practice, who are able to directly respond and take your feedback into consideration. Are invited to the PPG if you aren’t then please making sure you sign up, details are below.
The dates for this year’s PPG meetings
- Monday 2nd June 2025 at 2:30pm – Virtual meeting
- Monday 22nd September 2025 at 2:30pm – Virtual meeting
- Monday 8th December 2025 – Face-to-face festive gathering (venue The Neaman practice).
What will be covered
- Service updates – what’s returning, what’s changing, and what’s staying
- Introducing new team members and management updates
- Plans for 2025 and how the PPG can get involved
- Your feedback on the appointment booking system – how it’s been working for you and suggestions for improvements
To register visit here
Do you need help with Cost of Living?
East London Foundation Trust (ELFT) has created a 'library of content' of Cost of Living Tips articles available on the ELFT public website under Cost of Living Support here
Get in touch with us!
Visit our website for more information, news and events, have your say about your care www.healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk email: info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
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