News and reports

Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea have shared an update for parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) on the support available during the current lockdown.

Last week we were excited to host our first virtual Annual Meeting.

We brought together over 80 Healthwatch Central West London members, stakeholders, volunteers, staff, trustees, external colleagues and local people to present our annual report and showcase our work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though we could not meet in person, we had a fantastic turnout, and it was great to see so many familiar faces.

We have published a COVID-19 insight report in collaboration with Breathe Easy Westminster. The report highlights the impact of COVID-19 on those living with a long-term respiratory condition.

Many people who provide unpaid care are unaware of their rights. Find out more about the help and support you are entitled to.

This week we have launched an updated version of our survey Coronavirus: Your Experience Matters.

When the pandemic took hold earlier this year, we wanted to hear local people’s views and experiences. We ran focus groups and interview sessions with local groups and launched our first survey to give people the opportunity to talk to us about their experiences.

At the moment, awareness of public health messaging is particularly important. A key part of our role at Healthwatch Central West London is raising awareness of Government and NHS public health messaging and working to ensure these messages are available to everybody.

The way we carry out our work has changed substantially over the past eight months. We are not in the office anymore and have not been since March. We are not even all in the same country at the moment – with some of us working remotely as far away as Greece! This has meant we have had to change and adapt normal working practices. Lots of our in-person engagement work has had to be moved online, and we meet as a team, virtually, more regularly to help us all keep in touch.

As we adapt to living with COVID-19 long-term, technology has become increasingly central to how many of us communicate. With opportunities for face-to-face interaction limited, technology like video calling software has provided somewhat of an alternative. From doctors’ appointments to family catch-ups, how we communicate, receive information, and interact with others has changed considerably.

We are pleased to announce that we are an accredited Disability Confident Employer.

This report tells you what Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people think about the services.
We got these views from the COVID-19 survey.

The COVID-19: Your Experience Matters survey was developed to capture the broadest range of experiences: in this report, we look at physical health and access to services; mental health and wellbeing; personal and family relationships; housing, environment and finances; and information.

We have surveyed people about how they have been affected by COVID-19. We wanted to highlight the experiences of those who responded to our survey who identified as being from a minority ethnic group.