Today we are launching our Annual Report which shares all of our activities and impact throughout 2021 and 2022.
We’re delighted to be able to share all of the work that our volunteers and ambassadors have been doing during the year, alongside all of the fantastic research and engagement projects that we’ve delivered. The report also shares what you’ve been getting in contact with us about and all of the ways that you’ve engaged with us both in person and via digital means, through our growing social media presence.
A few highlights from the work that Healthwatch Essex has delivered this year include ‘Living with Obesity’: Men’s experiences of losing and gaining weight. This report was well-received across the stakeholders it was shared with. The findings have fed into various strategies and policies across Essex, and the author Dr John Day was seconded on a short-term basis to Essex County Council to support them in writing the new Weight Management Strategy.
Our project focussed on addiction has resulted in an exciting campaign. The stories and experiences gathered have been powerful and provoked conversations concerning gambling, drug and alcohol addiction. The podcasts are a ‘must listen’, and the poster campaign is an opportunity to raise awareness about these fundamental issues.
Healthwatch Essex proudly won an award for COVID-19 response at the Healthwatch national network awards following our sensory awareness campaign earlier in the year. We have been able to work much closer with the national network this year and have delivered Research Methods training, Communications support and Engagement guides, supported by Healthwatch England, to a wide range of local Healthwatch.
We developed a new ambassador programme called the Trauma Ambassador Group (TAG) this year. These adults have come together to use their collective lived experience to feed into current service design, research at local and university levels and to capture and share the experience they have had.
You can read the whole report here.