Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees Annual Event 2025

25 organisations, along with members of the public attended to represent a wide variety of people and services, including community groups, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, Public Health, University Hospitals Tees and the VCSE sector, bringing together enthusiasm and passion to improve the wellbeing of our local community.

Guest Speakers 

Peter Smith: Chair, Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees

We provided an overview of our work 2024-2025 and the impact we have had on our journey to change. 

• Development of the Health & Care Ambassador Programme. Over 40 professionals have committed to bringing health and wellbeing services together, developing relationships, building trust and capacity into the system to make meaningful change based on real time intelligence and need.
• Nationally raising voices of people with lived experience of ADHD & autism to support the development of new pathways of care and raise awareness of the needs of parents, carers and those impacted by neurodiversity to help to improve wellbeing and outcomes.
• Reaching our migrant communities to learn how we can work better together to improve health and access to services, sharing best practice and overcoming barriers to develop positive working relationships.
• Working with young people to listen and understand what challenges they face in supporting and improving health.
• Continuing our work with Public Health to support people impacted by substance misuse as changes are made to drug and alcohol support services, including extended hours for support services, implementation of a freephone number, improved provider collaboration and raising awareness and understanding of substance misuse via lived experience training.

• Gathering local feedback and providing responses to regional work programmes to inform recovery plans including; 

  1. Women’s Health 

  2. Hospital Group Tees 

  3. Dentistry 

  4. NHS 10 Year Strategy

Liam Knowles: Family Support Worker, Bridges Family & Carer Service

Liam provided a powerful insight into substance misuse, his knowledge and experiences were shared in a thought-provoking way to help to raise awareness and understanding of the impact of substance misuse. Liam will be delivering free training sessions throughout the Borough, including directly to young people at the planned Health & Care Ambassador Programme event.

Susan Mansaray: Founder, Purple Rose

Susan’s passion for change and supporting migrant communities was evident as she spoke of her personal journey and the challenges faced by migrant, refugee and asylum communities. Susan told us how trust and culture can be a significant barrier to accessing health and care support, along with significant other personal priorities. 

Susan works tirelessly to provide a safe and inclusive space for people to attend for comfort and support. Working together with us we have been able to bring health and care services to the community, building trusting relationships. It is vital this approach is harnessed to ensure ongoing effective working, improving health outcomes.

Lindsay Graham: Lancashire & South Cumbria Director

People First Philip Kerr: Operations Manager, Carers Federation 

Lindsay and Philip spoke about various advocacy support available to residents in Stockton-on-Tees. They shared with us different types of advocacy that can support people to have their voices heard, helping people to have control over their lives and navigate complex systems and processes, with the right support and information.

Care Act Advocacy 

Supporting people through needs assessments, care reviews and safeguarding. 

Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy 

Supporting people who have been assessed as lacking capacity to make specific decisions.

Independent Mental Health Advocacy 

Supporting people who have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. 

Independent General Advocacy 

Supporting people with a health or social care need on general issues.

Susan Robinson & Angela Patrick: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Health and Wellbeing Librarians

Susan and Angela have been working closely with us to develop the Health & Care Ambassador Programme. They have extensive experience and knowledge of engaging with the public to promote important wellbeing messages. They spoke of tried and tested methods of engaging with young people, reinforcing the need to be fun and interactive. 

Stockton-on-Tees Public Health Information Library is available to Health Practitioners and people who are interested in promoting health and wellbeing information. The library provides useful marketing materials, supporting both local and national campaigns and general health information and advice. There is the ability to book out larger campaign items, such as smoking 'tar jars', models, stands and promotional outfits.

Sarah Jones: Manager, Stockton Wellbeing Hub

Sarah attended the Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees Annual Event 2024 to share with everyone developments of the opening of the newly established Stockton Wellbeing Hub. This year Sarah came back to update us on progress to date, the impact the service is having for people in our community and plans for the future. To date over 500 people have accessed the service. A third of those have requested specific mental health support. 

Partners working in the Wellbeing Hub:

• Impact on Teesside
• TEWV NHS
• CGL
• Recovery Connections
• Harbour
• Bridges
• Thirteen (due to start in April)
• Catalyst Stockton as the lead organisation for Community Mental Health Transformation
• Co located with CAB
• Stockton Carers and many more coming soon 

There are also activities with Shape the Play, DWP, Learning and Skills and more.

Rob Papworth: SBC Strategic Development Manager (Adults & Health)

Natalie Shaw: SBC Assurance and Co Production Manager

Rob and Natalie shared information with us about the review of the Adult Social Care Strategy for Stockton-on-Tees. There is a commitment to embedding the voices of people and partnership working. 

Key requirements for a new strategy 2026-2030: 

• An accessible co-produced strategy with the Making It Real Board which reflects the voices of our citizens and partners.
• Aligned with the Stockton-on-Tees Plans that “Stockton-on-Tees is home - a warm and friendly place, where we welcome others and come together as a single community. We are a diverse and inspiring Borough, culturally rich and with confidence in a future that we can all share and be proud of. At the economic heart of Tees Valley, we are a dynamic, safe and healthy place, where everyone can grow and succeed. We work together to reduce inequalities and remove barriers to opportunity. We are Team Stockton-on-Tees.” 

Priorities include: 

• Ensure the person is at the heart of their care and support -strengths-focus
• Increase opportunities for co-production
• Strive to improve the choice of places to live for people with care and support needs to live independently
• Support people to remain safe & independent in their own homes for as long as possible
• Working with communities to support them to help themselves (Community-Led initiatives)
• Publish the new Health & Wellbeing Strategy
• Expand drug and alcohol services

Key Findings 

The feedback received on the day demonstrated the qualitative, meaningful conversations that took place within the workshops. System leaders, professionals and people with lived experience provided important insight of challenges within the health and care system and the impact that this has on local people. 

There was resounding enthusiasm and commitment to work together to overcome difficulties, share best practice and look for robust resolutions to help to improve health and wellbeing in our communities. 

Some of the conversations that took place included: 

• Better understanding of mental health both with professionals and communities, considering terminology used and correct pathways of care. Identifying alternative approaches to support young people, cultures and men’s health alleviating stigma.
• Improved communication and knowledge of what is available and where, supporting people to understand their rights and limitations. Considering a wide range of audiences.
• Older people, ensuring digital inclusion and understanding what is meant by ‘early intervention’. • Improved bereavement support services, that include provision for those experiencing loss of children through stillbirth, miscarriage or child protection orders.
• Provision to support people to keep active both physically and mentally, reducing social isolation and considering lack of income and the cost of living crisis.
• NHS 10 Year Plan – concerns were raised about the integration between services, including hospital, community and prevention. Although steps and discussions are taking place it is felt that this needs to be improved if ambitions are to be realised. Community Social Care is critical to success.
• University Hospital Group Tees – Concern over patient access and experience.
• The need to build on the ‘Health and Care Ambassador Programme’ using skills knowledge and intelligence from across the sector to reach our communities and improve access to important health and care services. 

Recommendations 

• As health and care services continue to go through a period of transformation, it is vital that we continue to strengthen collaborative working to improve outcomes for our population. We need to ensure we are open and transparent about the challenges we face, to enable us to work with communities to find alternative solutions to strengthen resilience, raise aspirations and improve health and wellbeing. •
• Terminology used by some professionals can be confusing, as services implement change we need to ensure we are clear about how and what we communicate to be effective.
• Highlighting areas of best practice provides a valuable opportunity to learn. If something is working well, we need to focus on that area to help to build capacity in the system.
• Commissioning of services should encourage partnership working to ensure we utilise skills experience and knowledge across the sector. 

Next Steps 

All the information provided on the day, along with valuable feedback gathered throughout the year will be presented to the Healthwatch Stockton-on-Tees Board to determine our workplan for 2025-2026. 

The intelligence contained within this report will be shared widely with our partners, including the Making it Real Board, Powering Our Community initiatives, the ICB and VCSE to provide added value and intelligence to priority areas. 

Ongoing positive feedback received about the Health & Care Ambassador Programme, highlights the impact this work has had throughout the year, not only in improving access to health and care services, but in strengthening professional relationships across the sector building capacity, learning and resilience. 

We are committed to continuing this work, building networks and strengthening our collective response to real time intelligence. We will provide an update in the coming weeks of our work focus for 2025-2026. 

We would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support and the very obvious commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of our local area. 

‘Together we will make a difference’