Healthwatch City of London September Newsletter
Chat from our Chair
Welcome to our September newsletter and to the official start of Autumn! We hope you enjoyed the summer and are ready for all we have to offer over the next few months. We are certainly looking forward to the new term.
The Neaman Practice have provided us with an important update on their new AI scribe programme which will soon be implemented. Details on that are down below, including how it will benefit patients and clinicians, as well as how the software will work. This is a big change, and we know many of you will be worried about the implications. We certainly will be making sure that the changes are well consulted on and that patient’s confidentiality and choice remain at the forefront of these changes. It’s really important that we all get involved in this so please do attend the next Neaman Practice Patient Participation Group where this will be discussed and if you aren’t, yet a member then join up now.
We were fortunate enough to be joined at our recent Board Meeting in Public by Mary Elford, Chair of Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where she shared the Trusts plans for creating greater patient participation. More about that below. We look forward to hearing more form Mary over the next few months.
Other news includes our upcoming events, such as our final Adult Social Care session with the City of London Corporation next Thursday, our Patient Panel on the importance of diet and nutrition with the Neaman Practice’s lead dietician, Joe Alvarez in October, our session with Professor Charles Knight MD FRCP, Chief Executive at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and David Curran, Director of Nursing at St Bartholomew’s who will be responding to our Enter and View which was conducted in their cardiology department. More details on these events are down below, including how to register.
We will also be kicking off some of our major projects including, access to emergency care and an Enter and View in the physiotherapy department at St Leonards Hospital. Interested in getting involved? Find out more below.
As always, we will be making sure the City voice is heard at all those meetings we participate in where the future of services and how they will be delivered is discussed.
We hope to see you at our upcoming events.
Gail Beer
Chair, Healthwatch City of London
AI Transcribe at the Neaman Practice
The Neaman Practice will start to use an AI scribe programme to help with documentation of GP consultations. It is thought that the use of AI will be beneficial for both patients and clinicians, as it will allow clinicians to focus more on patients in consultations (listening rather than typing), reduce waiting times and will facilitate retention and recruitment of future practice staff.
The recordings of consultations will start once the Neaman Practice has put in all necessary data protections and GDPR requirements in place with the Integrated Care Board (ICB). We will update you once this has taken place.
It is important to note that clinicians remain solely responsible for the accuracy of medical notes, therefore each generated note must be reviewed and edited by the clinician.
Individual clinicians will have the choice of whether they want to use it for their consultations and patients will also have the choice to decline it's use. The Practice will seek consent from every patient before it is used.
About the software
The AI Scribe software is designed to be used in a clinical setting to convert a Doctor-Patient conversation into text to generate a comprehensive note for medical records. Clinicians can instantly modify notes and generate other documents, such as referral letters and save these notes to the patient record.
More details on this will be given at the Neaman Practice Patient Participation Group (PPG) meeting which will be held virtually on Monday, 22nd September 2025. For details of how to join, visit the PPG page on the Practice website. If you are not signed up to the PPG, we strongly recommend that you do.
Our upcoming events
Healthwatch & City of London Adult Social Care information event
This is the last chance to join us and Jenny Noschese, Lead Occupational Therapist from the City of London Corporation for our final information session on all things Adult social care including
- The new Housing Assistance Policy and how it may benefit you.
- The Sensory Needs Process
- Occupational therapy
- Additional adult social care services offered in the City
You’ll have the opportunity to ask any question about accessing the service provided by the City. We’ll also be talking about the ASC advisory group where your views and experiences will help shape provision of social care in the City.
Join us on Thursday, 11th September at the Golden Lane Community Centre from 1pm to 2.30pm.
You can register here
St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Healthwatch Event
In October, Professor Charles Knight MD FRCP, Chief Executive at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and David Curran, Director of Nursing will be welcoming us to Barts and updating us on their response to our Cardiology Department Enter and View Report and telling us more about the services provided at the hospital, patient care, listening to your concerns and any recent changes following the recent government announcements.
Join us on Thursday, 9th October, from 11:30am to 1:30pm at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Register here
Our Annual General Meeting
We are delighted that Dame Marie Gabriel, Chair Integrated Care Board (ICB), will be joining us at our AGM. As we enter a period of change and reorganisation within the NHS following the government announcement of its 10 year plan Marie will be helping us better understand what the changes mean for us and them and what difference we will see. We will be keen to know how the ICB intend to scrutinise healthcare when the Dash report changes are implemented late in 2026. We will also be giving an overview of our successes and projects over the past year, updating you on our plans for the coming year, listening to any concerns and answering questions you may have.
There will also be stalls from Health and Social Care providers for you to visit to get more information. Join us on Friday, 17th October, 9.30 stalls, meeting 10am to 12pm at St Giles Church, to register visit here
Get involved in our Patient Panels
Diet and Nutrition with the Neaman Practice
Join us for a Patient Panel with Joe Alvarez, First Contact Dietician where he will discuss the importance of diet and nutrition as well as the service offered at the Neaman Practice. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have.
The session will be held at the Golden Lane Community Centre from 10:30am to 12pm, on Friday, 3rd October. Please register on our website
If you have any questions you’d like our experts to answer, please email us at info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
Public Board meeting with Mary Elford
Last week we were joined by Mary Elford, Chair Homerton Healthcare NHS Trust at our Board meeting in Public. Mary talked about her background and why she’s passionate about her (relatively) new role. She gave an overview of the hospital and the Trust and its positives like there is no corridor care, the referral from GP to hospital times, and the ‘outstanding’ rated A&E department.
The priorities of the Trust are the development of community services, support GPS to engage in community care and the neighbourhoods. Mary also spoke about the new ‘integrator’ role, which we talked about in our last newsletter, it is still in the discussions stage at the moment.
Mary expressed concerns about the closure of Healthwatch and acknowledged the patient feedback and insights that the Trust receives from both us and Healthwatch Hackney is used by the Trust to help shape services, and has promised to keep a focus on patient feedback and to work with us to ensure a consistent approach going forward, including looking at the Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) and the friends and family test, which they also use.
Healthwatch City of London visit to Barts Minor Injuries Unit
In August the team visited the Bart’s Minor Injuries Unit (MIU), the unit is hosted at Bart’s but is managed by the team at the Royal London A&E department.
The visit gave us an overview of the provision, the services it provides, how well it is utilised and how it is managed. We will be producing a short report on the visit and the service this month.
This visit is the start of a project the team are undertaking on Emergency Care pathways. The project will look at emergency cancer pathways, where we will be setting up focus groups for you to give us feedback on your experiences, carrying out desktop research on the current pathways and talking to the providers.
Enter and View Visit to the Physiotherapy Department at St Leonard’s
Healthwatch have a statutory function to carry out Enter & View visits to health and care services to review services at the point of delivery. The visits are part of wider investigations using patient feedback and experience, alongside desktop research.
Following substantial feedback from residents HWCoL are carrying our research to enable a team to undertake an Enter and View at the Physiotherapy Department at St Leonard’s. A survey will be produced for residents to give us feedback of their experiences of the department. The visit will take place later in the year but look out for our survey and invitation to join a focus group in our next newsletter. In the meantime, if you want to let us know of your experience at the department, please email us info@healthwatchcityoflondon.org.uk
Elsewhere in Health and Social Care
The Great Gut Arrives in Paternoster Square
From 22–27 September, Paternoster Square hosts Inside Out, the UK’s first Microbiome and Gut Health Festival. Wander through a giant walk‑through gut and enjoy free daily talks by medics, scientists, chefs and nutritionists, including internationally renowned Dr Megan Rossi, founder of The Gut Health Doctor®. Discover how the microbiome influences mood, immunity, cancer prevention and ADHD and hear latest research on the oral and vaginal microbiomes as well as the gut‑brain axis.
See the full programme here and mark your diary for the talks that intrigue you most. Inside Out is funded by The City of London Corporation.
Check out Bartholomew Fayre
On Friday, 19th September from 4pm to 8pm and Saturday, 20th September from 11am to 7pm, there will be a jam-packed days of free activities for all ages taking over Smithfield as part of Open House Festival.
This bold and brilliant grassroots neighbourhood festival celebrates creativity and togetherness with everything from arts and crafts, performances, walks and talks, food and drink, and much more!
Free Refugee and Migrant Community Drop-in
There are weekly drop-in sessions at the Golden Lane Community Centre for refugees and migrants living in or near the City of London. If you know anyone who is a refugee or migrant, this is a great group to suggest to
them.
It’s on Monday mornings from 10am to 12pm, with a rotating programme, all sessions include activities and information, free advocacy, immigration and mental health support (request in advance) and refreshments.
