Healthwatch City of London June Newsletter

General Manager's round up! 

Health in the City Day 2025 with the Neaman Practice

Need to find out more about where to get care or advice? Want to see if your blood pressure is OK? Join us and the Neaman Practice this 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 the 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, they 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, Together Better, NHS NEL Cancer Alliance, Gloji (City and Hackney Smoke Free Service), HealthSpot and the City of London Corporation and there will be wellbeing activities to take part in.
 

This year we will have a greater presence from those providing social care and support. That support ranges from post discharge from hospital, may be with some aids to long term care at home to more long term support. We are going to be hearing a lot more about that this year asking for your feedback and sharing a lot more information. 

And for the children there will be face painting!

We are very much looking forward to seeing you all there.

To register visit here

Get involved in our Patient Panels

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training session with the London Ambulance Service
Due to popular demand, we have organised another CPR training session with the London Ambulance Service. This will be held on Thursday 17^th July at the Artizan Library, 1 Artizan Street, London, E1 7AF from 10:30 – 12.
Please register on Eventbrite to attend.

North East London Cancer Alliance – Ovarian and Womb Cancer
Join us the NEL Cancer Alliance to find out more about the symptoms, prevention and treatment of ovarian and womb cancer.

North East London Cancer Alliance and leading gynaecological cancer charity The Eve Appeal have launched a second phase of their ‘You Need to Know’ campaign, to raise awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms and improve early diagnosis, as with all cancers the early  diagnosis and treatment supports better outcomes.

The campaign encourages women in north east London to speak to their GPs if they experience persistent bloating or other unexplained changes in bowel movement or eating habits.
The session will be held on Wednesday 3^rd September 12 – 1.30 at the Golden Lane Community Centre, EC1Y 0SA.
Register to attend on Eventbrite

Meetings we attend for you

We’ve attended several meetings on the future of Healthcare provision both within the City and more widely across North East London, feeding back to you is important.

• The Population Health and Integration committee presented the intention of the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to provide services across the Neighbourhood footprint with commissioning of those services will remain with the ICB.
• At the People and Place meeting local charities and service providers presented on the volunteering opportunities available to all residents especially the role the current public representatives can play

Our events over the past month

Our Carers Week event with IMAGO and City Carers Community
Last week we marked Carers week with a tea party at the Guildhall at which we were joined by Dragon Café in the City and Imago, the carers support service. Dragon Café led an embossed foil card making workshop, where participants created some imaginative and unique cards. This was followed by a tea party with plenty of sandwiches and cake.

Judith Finlay, Executive Director of Community and Children’s Services and Hannah Dobbin, Strategy and Projects Officer came along to show the Corporation’s support for and thanks to the unpaid carers community.

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. It also helps people who don't think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support.

We know there are many more carers in the city perhaps not giving live in or full-time care. We would love to hear more about your experiences and the Corporation are keen to know how they can support this group.

Patient Panel – Skin Cancer Awareness
At the end of last month, we held our Patient Panel on Skin Cancer Awareness, requested by our readership it was our most popular Patient Panel to date.

We were joined by Dr Thomas McLeod, GP and clinical lead on North East London Cancer Alliance skin cancer risk reduction campaign.

Dr McLeod told us about the two different groups of skin cancer, melanoma and non – melanoma, what to look out for on suntan lotion bottle labels, UVA, UVB and SPF, getting enough Vitamin D safely and what to look for when inspecting moles or dark spots.

For more information on how to stay safe in the sun visit the NEL Cancer Alliance website LDN get sun set and read the full report of our Patient Panel on our website

Board Meeting in Public
Earlier this month we held our Board meeting in Public at the Golden Lane Community, unfortunately David Curran, Director of Nursing and Governance at St Bartholomew’s Hospital was unable to join us but we are rescheduling a time for you to hear about our Enter and View visit to the cardiology department and the hospitals response to our recommendations.

The meeting was however a very useful session for us. Gail Beer, Chair Healthwatch City of London outlined our key priorities for the year which are:

1. Deliver 10 patient panels to inform you about Health and Social care topics that are important to you.
2. Hold a summer information event in June and our AGM in October, both events will give residents important information on local Health and Social Care services and on the work of Healthwatch City of London.  
3. Undertake two research projects – Emergency pathways in Barts and UCLH and access to dentistry in the City.
4. Carry out an Enter and View at the Physiotherapy department at St Leonards Hospital. HWCoL will carry out an enter and view to report on the provision and to make recommendations for improvement.
5. Increase engagement with the Portsoken community – hold two engagement events and increase representation from the community.
6. Maintain, train and utilise a dedicated team of volunteers.  To attend focus groups to give the City’s perspective, research and write reports for projects, help with HWCoL events and carry out enter and view visits.
7. Scrutinise how the City of London Corporation awards and monitors its contracts for Social Care provision. Focus on the patient/resident feedback elements of the contracts. Review feedback from patients via the annual social care survey and analyse safeguarding statistics.

The meeting also covered our workplan for the year, a financial update and an overview of the meetings we attend to make sure the City voice is heard.   We really appreciate it when members of the public join us so do please check out dates and come along and hear about what we do and help us to make it relevant to you.

Elsewhere in Health and Social Care 

Neaman Practice Patient Participation Group (PPG)
In early June two of our Board members attended the Neaman Practice PPG meeting. The meeting was well attended by City residents.
Key points from the meeting to note:

• New Diabetes Dietician Clinic now on site – Bronwyn Grey. Available every other month on the 2nd Wednesday. Appointments can be booked at reception on advice of a GP or nurse.
• First Contact Physiotherapy Service will be available at the Practice on Thursdays from 19th June. This can be booked via reception or requested via the booking system.
• RNID Hearing Aid Support is back! Offers a walk-in service for NHS hearing aid maintenance and assessments in partnership with RNID. Please note: this service does not cover private hearing aids. We are waiting for confirmation of times and days for this.
• New booking system – 70% of patients report satisfaction of the system. The issues raised via the Healthwatch focus groups and feedback have been raised with Accurx who are exploring options for improvement. Dr Hillier is following this up with Accurx to ensure a timely fix.
• Healthwatch Enter and View report response has been drafted.
• Following the recommendations from our Enter and View visit a sign is now up in reception advising patients they can request a quiet area for private conversations.

City Neighbourhood Forum
 The next meeting is 8^th July at the Golden Lane Community from 2pm – 4.30pm.
The City Neighbourhood Forum gives those who live, work or have a keen interest in the local area a say on how to improve their health and wellbeing, and help remove barriers to health care services that are needed.
This forum brings together residents, local service providers, and community leaders to connect, share insights, and take action on the top health priorities in our neighbourhoods.
At the forum residents will be asked to choose the top priority for City residents, these priorities are from the City of London Health and Wellbeing Strategy, and are financial resilience, mental health or making social connections.
Click here to find out more about Neighbourhood Forums.

Been Discharged recently? Help improve hospital discharge by telling us about your experience
Were you ready to be discharged from hospital?  Was it a good experience or left you worried, things not quite right?  If you have been discharged from hospital, whether it’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital, the Royal London, UCLH, The Homerton, or any other London hospital in the last 18 months we want to learn from your experiences.  Complete the survey below
https://forms.office.com/e/1cyPLtWh0D
The information you give will be feedback to North East London NHS and the local authority to improve hospital discharge.
 
Families in the City: Implementing Government Reforms
The way services for children, young people and families in the City of London are delivered is changing in response to national government reform. The City of London Corporation has created a work programme called ‘Families in the City’ to deliver this change. This brings partners together around the shared aim of transforming services for all children, young people and their families in the City of London. 
Find out more and about how you have your say by joining the City of London Corporation’s  Family Design Lab here: https://www.fis.cityoflondon.gov.uk/families-in-the-city
 
Living with Diabetes Day online event
Join Diabetes UK on Thursday 10^th of July 2025 for a Living with Diabetes Day event. This free online event is designed to support and inform people living with diabetes — and anyone who wants to learn more. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, have been managing diabetes for years, or are simply curious about the condition, our event provides expert advice, practical tips, and a welcoming space to share lived experiences. From sessions on eating well with diabetes to footcare and diabetes, there’s an event for everyone.
Spaces are free and open to anyone living with diabetes or anyone looking to expand their understanding. Take a look at our poster for further information and how you can sign up, or contact us on secoastandlondon@diabetes.org.uk