Our news
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Teething problems affect Trust IT change
13/08/2019
Some patients have had problems with appointment bookings at Hinchingbrooke and Peterborough City Hospitals following a recent update to their IT...
NHS-funded IVF treatment suspended indefinitely
08/08/2019
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has decided not to re-instate IVF on the NHS whilst they are still in debt. The...
Wanted: health services closer to home
05/08/2019
Poor travel and transport connections in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are affecting people's access to effective healthcare, a new Healthwatch...
Healthwatch wants patient involvement at the heart of plans for future of Hinchingbrooke
24/05/2016
Our Chair Val Moore went to yesterday’s Hinchingbrooke Hospital Board meeting, to respond to the outline business plan for a merger with Peterborough & Stamford NHS Foundation Trust (PSHFT). We want to make sure local people have the chance to be involved in decisions about the hospital’s...
Thriving - improving young people's mental health
18/05/2016
Children and young people want mental health support that is meaningful and relevant to them. This is one of the main messages children and young people have for local mental health organisations, in a new report published by Healthwatch Cambridgeshire. We are publishing Thriving, our report into...
Local Healthwatch find cautious optimism for the future of adults and older people’s care
17/05/2016
Healthwatch Cambridgeshire met with 40 people last Wednesday, to share knowledge and ideas about the future of local older people’s health and adult community services (OPACS). Leaders from local NHS, social care and voluntary organsiations, patient representatives and colleagues from our other...
Listening to patients at Addenbrookes Hospital
22/04/2016
Last month our volunteers visited Addenbrookes Hospital to talk to people about their experiences of outpatient appointments. This is something the hospital asked us to help them with. We visited three outpatient clinics and talked to more than 200 people. We asked each person: How long they waited...
Local health commissioners publish report into ending of older people's contract
10/03/2016
Today Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) published its independent report into the ending of the older people's contract. The contract ended in December 2015 after only eight months. At the time we wrote to our health commissioners to ask some important questions...
Kate and Rita meet the children from Caldecote Primary School
08/03/2016
Kate Hales, Co-ordinator for Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and our Dementia Friends Champion, helped recruit 128 new Dementia Friends on a visit to Caldecote Primary School in February. This included 3 members of staff and 125 children. Kate visited the school with Dementia Friends Champion Lorraine...
Better care needed for local Gypsies, Romany and Travellers
03/03/2016
Yesterday more than 30 people came together to talk about making health and social care work better for local Gypsies and Travellers. It included people from the Gypsy, Romany and Traveller communities, as well as local health and social care decision makers. At this event we launched "Our Health...
Healthwatch challenges County Council to cut care package waiting times
02/02/2016
Earlier this month Cambridgeshire County Council told us they had hugely reduced the number of people waiting for a social care assessment. We were pleased with this news, as previously people had waited up to 47 weeks for an assessment. We first found out that long waiting times for care...
Next steps for future of older people's health and adult community care
28/01/2016
Last month we wrote to our local health commissioner, to ask some important questions about the collapse of the older people's contract . We wanted to know why the contract was withdrawn, who was involved in this decision and what happens next. We received a reply to our letter earlier this month...
Local Healthwatch want answers from health commissioners
11/12/2015
Today we wrote to our local health commissioner, to ask some important questions about the recent collapse of the older people's services contract. We want to know why the contract was withdrawn, who was involved in this decision and what happens next. We are also calling for a formal public...
We will ask questions about why the older people's contract didn't work
03/12/2015
Today we heard the news that the older people's adult community services contract with Uniting Care didn't work out, as it wasn't financially sustainable. We were told that that contract would transfer back to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group. They awarded the original...
News from our Board meeting on 18 November 2015
19/11/2015
At last nights Healthwatch Cambridgeshire Board meeting, our Chair Val Moore reported on her first two months in post. She has met with many of the local leaders in health and care organisations. She has also spent time talking and listening to people within Healthwatch, including our volunteers...
Gypsy Traveller health needs
18/11/2015
Healthwatch has an important role to play in listening to the experiences of people who are not always heard by local decision makers. Gypsy and Traveller populations make up the largest ethnic minority communities in Cambridgeshire. Dr Kate D’Arcy has been helping us find out about the health...
My Own Mind report published
21/10/2015
Yesterday we launched our My Own Mind report, looking at Ely College students' attitudes to stress and anxiety. We worked closely with the sixth form health and social care students to develop this exciting new project. They told us young people's mental wellbeing was important to them. They wanted...
Local care homes welcoming and friendly
15/10/2015
Six local care homes were “welcoming and friendly” when we visited them this summer to find out what it was like to live there. In each of the homes we saw staff being respectful, kind and friendly towards residents, who appeared to be “well looked after”. We found that the residents we spoke to...
“Inadequate” rated hospital is a warning about capacity in our health and care system
22/09/2015
Today, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published their report on Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (Addenbrookes and the Rosie Hospitals) which gives the Trust an overall rating of ‘inadequate’. The Trust has been placed in "special measures" by Monitor, who are taking enforcement action...
A step forward for podiatry care in Cambridgeshire
17/09/2015
Earlier this week the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) updated their Podiatry Services Policy, after we raised some issues about inconsistencies in access to care. Some people had told us about problems they were having getting podiatry services on the NHS. We...
Val Moore appointed as our new Chair
08/09/2015
Val Moore, most recently a director at NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has been appointed as the new Chair of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire. As Chair Val will provide us with a strategic lead as well as sitting on local health and care policy boards, such as the Cambridgeshire...
"My Own Mind" - our young people's mental health project
20/08/2015
Earlier this summer we worked with the health and social care class at Ely 6th form, to find out what makes students in the college feel stressed and anxious. We wanted to know about young people's coping strategies when stressful situations arose, and what else could help them. The students helped...
Trans and waiting too long for treatment?
30/07/2015
Healthwatch Cambridgeshire wants to know if you have been waiting too long for an appointment at a gender identity clinic. We are your local champion in health and care services and part of our job is to make sure that you are listened to when care is not working in the way it should be. Our...
Ruth Rogers steps down as Chair of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire
24/07/2015
Last night our Healthwatch team said goodbye to Ruth Rogers, who stepped down from her role as Chair at our Annual General Meeting on 15th July. We met Ruth one final time for a celebration meal, to thank her for the contribution she has made to our Healthwatch, and wish her well in her post...
We have won an award for our work with the CQC!!!
01/07/2015
Making a difference with the Care Quality Commission 2014-2015 Last night we received an award for "Making a difference with the Care Quality Commission" (CQC) at the Healthwatch national annual conference. We were presented with our award by David Behan, Chief Executive of the CQC. There were more...
Thank you to our volunteers at First Steps to Health launch
16/06/2015
First Steps to Health report is positive about local GP care Yesterday we officially launched our “First Steps to Health” report into local GP, NHS 111 and Pharmacy services, at a special "thank you" event for our vounteers. We wanted to find out how people used these services, if they had enough...
Can you book it?
05/06/2015
Some women have told us they have had problems getting a smear test at a time and place which suits them. We know that women in Cambridgeshire have less choices over where they can go for a smear test. Local women have also told us about problems they have had re-arranging breast screening...
Working with our wonderful volunteers
03/06/2015
Our volunteers We think all of our volunteers are pretty amazing, giving up their freetime to help you have your say on local health and care services. Without their support, we would find it hard to listen to the experiences of as many people in the community as we do. Our volunteers do a range of...
