Young Healthwatch: 2022 Projects
A new survey for 2022
The response to our first survey during the pandemic was fantastic and led us to plan and deliver a multitude of projects in response. We want to follow it up with a second survey to create a picture of how young people are now and what is important to them in these difficult times. Young Healthwatch volunteers have started to generate questions for this new survey and we look forward to sharing this with young people in 2022 so that they can continue to have their voices heard and, in turn, help us to shape healthcare services and work to provide the information they need to be healthy.
Building a deeper understanding of what’s going on for local students
We are collaborating with the North West London Schools Research Network to pilot a new student engagement project in schools across North West London.
More work will be done to recruit additional schools as members and to start those vital early conversations with members on what the needs of their pupils are, and how we can work collaboratively to meet them.
Information on GP Practice websites for Young People
In our survey, Young Healthwatch found that only 25% of young people would go to their GP for support with their mental wellbeing. This illustrates there is a lack of connection between young people and primary care in a time when it is needed more than ever. This ties in with the findings and subsequent recommendations in our Primary Care reports that practice websites should be updated and improved for patients. We believe this constitutes a clear mandate for further investigation and community engagement.
Young Healthwatch is therefore working with our Primary Care Engagement Officer, Odeta, to plan a project looking at the provision of information and guidance for young people on GP Practice websites across Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea.
In early 2022, we will start to engage with community partners – and the young people they work with – on what they would expect and hope to find on a GP website. It could be anything, from health concerns to a healthy lifestyle, or from sexual health to how to manage mental health conditions. We would like to ensure that GP practice websites provide reliable information and signpost to services that can help.We will feedback the results and provide recommendations for improvements to the practices and wider local NHS structures.
More about Patient Participation
Young Healthwatch Volunteers join discussions at our Annual Meeting
It’s not a project for 2020, however, we wanted to highlight and give a special thanks to our Young Healthwatch volunteers for their appearance at our annual meeting earlier this month. Civan and Aaniya took part in a Q&A with Young Healthwatch lead, Alex, to reflect on the last year with the group and think ahead to 2022. The volunteers spoke of their pride in what has been achieved in providing information on support for young people, our appearance on CNWL One Community Radio, and presenting our latest report to a cross-party group of councilors in Westminster tasked with addressing the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s wellbeing.
To follow Young Healthwatch’s progress we have a dedicated web page that enables us to create more tailored content for young people.
