It’s time to speak up - Because We All Care

As the social care sector and NHS faces pressures like never before in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Healthwatch Somerset has joined national care organisations to support a new campaign Because We All Care, to ask people who use health and care services to feed back on their experiences.

Despite the toll this terrible pandemic has taken, the nation has pulled together. In Somerset, as across the country, we have seen so many people volunteer their time and many more expressing support for the front-line workers keeping those in care safe and well.

National research by Healthwatch England and the Care Quality Commission has found that nearly two thirds (61%) of the public want to help to improve health and social care in this country. One crucial way to improve the quality of care is to give feedback, whether positive or negative. It is only by knowing what has been done well, and what needs improvement, that we can build a better care system as we come out of this crisis.

Giving feedback might seem like a small contribution, but it can have real and concrete effects in improving the quality of care. We want to hear from Somerset residents about their experiences of health and social care during Covid-19, or that of their loved ones, so that we can help services adapt, rebuild and improve.

You can feedback by completing the Healthwatch Somerset short, confidential online survey https:// www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/coronavirushws/ or get in touch with us on 01278 264405 or via our social media.

It has never been more important that the voices of people who use health and social care are heard, and we are listening, because we all care. Hannah Gray Healthwatch Somerset Manager