#HWL19 - How do our volunteers help us? | Healthwatch Lincolnshire

#HWL19 - How do our volunteers help us?

At Healthwatch Lincolnshire we couldn’t help to make improvements in local health and care services without the support of our dedicated volunteers that work with us to help make care better for their communities.

What our volunteers do:

          • Collect people’s views and experiences which we use in our reports
          • Support our day to day running e.g. governance and representation
          • Raise awareness of the work we do in the community
          • Visit services to make sure they’re meeting people’s needs

‘Volunteers help to improve standards on hospital wards’

Thanks to the ‘Mystery Shopper’ work in Lincolnshire hospitals carried out by Healthwatch Lincolnshire volunteers, improvements to ward standards have been made.

Mystery Shopping allows volunteers to walk onto any ward and review the facilities, atmosphere, environment and the ward information, as a patient might see them. This collaborative work with the United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust saw our volunteers visiting over 40 hospital wards during the year at the three main hospitals in the county.

Volunteers use a checklist devised by the Trust and Healthwatch to review ward services. The checklist includes questions like; how does the ward make you feel, what’s the atmosphere like, calm or chaotic, what have I noticed that builds my confidence, what makes me less confident, is there access control in place, is the information on the boards up to date, is the ward tidy and clean, is the phone left ringing and are there hand cleaning gels. The form also asks the volunteer to write down three positive things about the ward and three things that could be improved.

When completed, the form is returned to the Healthwatch office where the details are recorded, it is then sent directly back to the appropriate Ward Manager/Sister.  The ward is visited again within three months to see that the issues (if there have been issues raised) have been dealt with.

This programme of collaborative work continues to be impactful, having a direct and immediate effect on hospital ward services, always with the public in mind. 

It gives me an opportunity to go to places I would not otherwise have gone, to learn new skills and it challenges me to do different activities which improves my confidence’.