West Yorkshire Voice - Healthwatch

Important Update about West Yorkshire Voice YouTube video by West Yorkshire Voice

Thank you for being an essential part of our network!

Watch the full video via the Link In Bio or here: youtube.com/shorts/Tdz66...

Read the full statement: re-url.uk/W7WQ

A big thank you and next steps for West Yorkshire Voice. Your contribution is important both now and in the future!

In this video, we discuss:
- The changes to West Yorkshire Voice
- The continued role of local Healthwatch organizations
- How you can stay involved and share your feedback

If you are or have recently been a carer in Leeds, @carersleeds.bsky.social are keen to hear from you about your experiences to help improve local support.

If you're not yet a member of West Yorkshire Voice, you can join here: www.wypartnership.co.uk/.../join-wes....

We will be closed from 19th December until 5th January so any messages during this time will be picked up by our Coordinator in the new year.

We wish you a restful and enjoyable festive period and we look forward to working with you in the new year.

Title text reads warm wishes for the festive season and there are illustrations of 6 people with speech bubbles that each have an area of West Yorkshire written in them.

As we come to the end of 2025, we want to thank you for all your contributions to West Yorkshire Voice. We are very grateful for everyone who has been involved in sharing their voice or who has shared opportunities and information with others.

On Tuesday we attended a event hosted by West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board to support health and care staff to understand more about the challenges faced by people who face the greatest risks to poor health and healthcare access (inclusion health groups).

Text reads anti-microbial resistance - a carer's experience.

In June 2025, we worked with someone to produce a video sharing their experiences of anti-microbial resistance from a carer’s perspective.

This video was played at the West Yorkshire Partnership Board meeting on 15th July 2025: www.youtube.com/watch?si=zob...

You can watch the video on Youtube: youtu.be/aSsVBsj6l1k?...

You can also read our latest newsletter for more information: re-url.uk/W4VS

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People's experiences of how their housing affects their health We had a group discussion in June 2025 with three people about how their recent housing issues have impacted on their health. Thank you to Daria Vladimirova for editing the audio. Thank you also to Leeds Muslim Youth Forum and Foresight Equity and Solutions who helped connect us to people. Voice 1: We spoke to someone who told us about how their daughter’s health has been made worse by their housing situation. Her child has many different serious allergies to food and environmental factors (anaphylaxis) as well as being asthmatic. Her child's allergies, breathing and overall health have have been affected by factors such as damp, dust. Her airborne allergies have been triggered by food waste disposed in bin shoots. She is East African and has faced language barriers to getting support and has not felt she has been treated equally due to being a migrant. Voice2: We also spoke...

In June 2025, we spoke to three people about how their poor housing conditions have impacted their health. We created a video, which was played at the recent West Yorkshire Partnership Board meeting on 15th July 2025.

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If you would prefer to share your experience by phone, please contact George or Harriet on 0113 8980035.

If you would like to share your broader views about travelling to hospital appointments in West Yorkshire and Craven you can fill in the West Yorkshire survey: re-url.uk/W4T9

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From 1st May 2025, new eligibility criteria for patient transport have been introduced in West Yorkshire and Craven.

Tell us about your experiences and we can feed this into a review during the autumn. if appropriate we can arrange for someone to contact you with advice about your options.

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Non-emergency patient transport is a free transport service for people who find it difficult to get to hospital appointments on their own and have certain medical conditions or circumstances.

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Have you been refused non-emergency patient transport (NEPTS) to a hospital appointment in West Yorkshire and Craven since 28th April 2025?

Tell us more by filling in our survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/PatientTra...

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If you work or volunteer with people and communities, particularly those who face multiple barriers to health and care services and to good health, please complete the professionals survey: re-url.uk/WLSK

If you want to share your own experiences, either about managing your own health or supporting someone you care for to do so, please complete this survey: re-url.uk/WLSM

Two pieces of paper, one is a survey showing some questions and one is a poster for the survey which reads 'what do you need to manage your health?'. There are also two lanyards that say volunteer on them.

This week, George and two volunteers visited breakfast club run by @kirkleesinrecovery. We had some great conversations with people about 'self-managing' their health. We heard about barriers to managing health and the things that can make this easier.

If you work or volunteer with people and communities, particularly those who face multiple barriers to health and care services and to good health, please complete the professionals survey: re-url.uk/WLSK

Questions or more information, contact info@westyorkshirehealthwatch.co.uk or 0113 898 0035.

We’d like to hear about your experiences and views!

If you want to share your own experiences, either about managing your own health or supporting someone you care for to do so, please complete this survey: re-url.uk/WLSM

While most people want to manage their own health, we know that this can be challenging for many different reasons. We would like to know about what helps people to manage their health, what gets in the way of this and what worries them about ‘self-managing’.

What do you need to manage your health?

We are seeing a shift in health and care services towards asking people and communities to manage their health and care, sometimes called ‘supported self-management’.

Alina, Gemma, Simran and Janet are at Pudsey Civic Hall for the Dementia Friendly Leeds Event. The event is free to attend with many great stall holders, talks and music. We have lots of information on our table to help you and your family. Come join us. We are here until 2:30pm.
#DementiaFriendly

George is over at the Dementia Friendly Leeds event today talking to people about how they can have their voices heard alongside @healthwatchleeds.bsky.social

If you work or volunteer with people and communities, particularly those who face multiple barriers to health and care services and to good health, please complete the professionals survey: re-url.uk/WLSK
@westyorkshirevoice.bsky.social

West Yorkshire Voice logo. What do you need to manage your care? Take part to make a difference. Cartoon icons of people that say the different areas within West Yorkshire.

Health and care services are encouraging people to take more responsibility for managing their own health and care.

If you want to share your own experiences, either about managing your own health or supporting someone you care for to do so, please complete this survey: re-url.uk/WLSM

This objective will be informed by the findings from the West Yorkshire ICB Independent Race Review led by Dame Donna Kinnair.
www.wypartnership.co.uk/publications...

This objective states that the West Yorkshire health and Care Partnership will “keep moving forward in our efforts to become an anti-racist Partnership, using insights from the Independent Race Review and building on existing work to better serve our diverse community and staff.”

Earlier this year, the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership published their new ‘Equity and Fairness Strategy’.

One of the new objectives has a focus on anti-racism.

www.wypartnership.co.uk/publications...

Here’s one of our West Yorkshire Voice members telling us why it is important from their perspective to have a focus on anti-racism to improve health and care services across West Yorkshire.
#racematters #raceequity

Watch the full video: youtu.be/ZK7Olw0Zqbg

Missed our latest newsletter?

Read more about what we shared below and sign up to join our mailing list if you want to hear from us directly.

April newsletter: re-url.uk/WLGS