Recent Projects

We recently conducted a revisit of Northampton General Hospital’s Maternity Department and these findings are now published in a short report for you to view!

In 2023, our team carried out an Enter and View of Kettering General Hospital’s Maternity Department. From the people we spoke to and the information we observed recommendations were made to the hospital – you can read this here.

In October 2024, we decided to revisit the department, in order to see if our recommendations were acted on. Brief observations of the general environment of the wards were also made. We have formated this information into a short report which you can read below.

On the 20th of June 2024, Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire representatives visited Kettering General Hospital’s Ophthalmology Department to carry out an Enter and View. We are happy to share the final report below.

Our aim with the visit was to evaluate the services provided from the perspective of the service users within Kettering General Hospital’s Eye Unit, including Ophthalmology Outpatients and the Spencer ward. The information gained from the visit was used to make some recommendations and areas in which the service was providing quality care, were acknowledged.

Some of our Key Findings can be seen below.

Positives:

• Very friendly and helpful staff
• Clean and well-maintained facilities
• Accessible facilities and information including BSL being offered, materials available in bold print and other languages, wide corridors and foldable seats in the hallways.

Challenges:

• Blank notice board within waiting area 2 could be utilised
• Fixing items like the TV in the main Waiting Area and the water fountain in the waiting area 2

Read the full report detailing our findings from the visit, recommendations we made and feedback from staff and service users below.

Our report detailing our findings has been published take a read!

In the autumn of 2023, Young Healthwatch Northamptonshire was commissioned by Northamptonshire’s Integrated Care Board to carry out research exploring the experiences of young people and their parents and carers who were waiting for an assessment of Autism and ADHD or those that had been recently diagnosed. To achieve this a survey was designed by Young Healthwatch Northamptonshire and then adapted for parents and carers as well.

A total of 322 people responded to the survey (115 young people and 209 parents and carers) looking at the support that was needed and struggles that young people and their families faced.

Some of the key findings discovered were:

• 32% of parents and 31% of young people said they had no support from any organisation after diagnosis
• 44% of young people did not think that the services available to them had helped them in comparison to 26% feeling that they had helped
• The most selected things that young people said they struggle to deal with were education, social skills, mental health and maintaining positive relationships with friends or peers

We know that this is an issue for a lot of people nationally as well as locally and it was vital that young people and their carers had a way to feed back the experiences that they are having. We know that there is work that is ongoing across Northamptonshire and look forward to seeing the changes that can be made

Esther Stimpson, Young Healthwatch Lead

Click below for more information on our findings in both the full report and an easy read version.

The results from Young Healthwatch’s piece of work surrounding young people’s views on using vapes and nicotine products has now been published.

In the autumn of 2023 Young Healthwatch Northamptonshire was commissioned by Public Health West Northamptonshire to gather the views of young people in West Northamptonshire who use vapes or similar nicotine products. We carried this out by speaking to young people in a focus group or one to one setting.

Public Health West Northamptonshire wanted to understand the motivation for young people to use vapes and electronic cigarettes so that they can build a specific service for young people to support them in stopping vaping. Despite the fact that it is illegal for young people to buy nicotine vaping products, it is thought that 69% of vape users are currently aged 11 to 17 across the country.

The full report can be read below, as well as an easy read version.

Read the report:

Read the easy read report:

Our report on the Enter and View visits we conducted at St Andrew’s Healthcare has now been published!

Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire partnered with the East Midlands Provider Collaborative for Adult Secure Care, known as IMPACT, to carry out multiple Enter and View visits of St Andrew’s Healthcare.

St Andrew’s purpose is to inspire hope for those living with complex mental health needs, by working in partnership with the NHS, voluntary, academic and research organisations to deliver specialist inpatient and community mental healthcare.

The intention of the project was to visit a variety of mental health inpatient wards within St Andrew’s to gather an in-depth look at the different services, as well as gather the experiences of patients, families, carers and staff. 

Healthwatch staff and volunteers accompanied IMPACT on its regular service reviews, where they visited six wards. These included men’s and women’s low and medium secure, as well as speciality services for learning disabilities and autism (LDA) and Deaf services.

Some of the key findings discovered include:

• Staff are passionate and deeply committed to their work
• The provision of services and modifications on the wards for those with disabilities is well delivered
• Activities on and off the ward positively influence patients’ treatment and progress however, staff shortages limit the availability of activities
• Some staff felt unsafe working on the wards when staffing levels were not achieved. They also felt that patients do not feel safe when staffing levels are low

The report below details the findings discovered from the visits, staff, patient, family and carer feedback as well as Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire’s recommendations to St Andrew’s Healthcare.

In December 2023 Healthwatch England initiated a project about understanding people’s experiences of diagnostic services. Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire participated by visiting Corby’s Willowbrook Health Centre, evaluating accessibility and gathering patient feedback.

The key findings

Accessibility and transport:

• The centre is accessible by public transport, with a bus stop nearby.
• Issues with parking availability, especially for disabled spaces, which were sometimes occupied by mobile diagnostic vans.

Facilities and environment:

• The diagnostic services visited (phlebotomy and ultrasound) were quiet and pleasant, with clean and comfortable seating.
• Some patients had to stand due to limited seating in the waiting area shared by ultrasound, x-ray, and urgent care.

Staff and patient interaction:

• Staff were friendly and respectful of patient privacy and dignity.
• There was a lack of usage and signage for hearing loops, and no posters informing patients about accessible information standards.

Patient feedback:

• Most patients found the location convenient and the staff to be the best part of their experience.
• Issues highlighted included the need for improved parking and a larger waiting room.

Read the full report below for more in depth information on our observations of the centre, patient feedback and recommendations we made.