North Yorkshire's Healthwatch organisation is meeting in Scarborough today.
The board of Healthwatch North Yorkshire are holding a public meeting to talk about progress and future plans.
Craig Derrick says they are also looking for local feedback.
The independent organisation gathers feedback on health and social care provision in the county.
Craig Derrick from Healthwatch says they will be looking for local feedback and talking about the areas they are working on.
The free public event is taking place at Falsgrave Community Resource Centre from 10:30am - 11:30am on Tuesday (November 7th) and is open to members of the public, Voluntary and community organisations, and social enterprises, NHS and social care staff and home carers.
Healthwatch say the event will be an opportunity to learn about the work they are doing and the impact it is having in making care better for local people, share your experiences – good and bad - of health and social care across North Yorkshire and take part in a Q&A session talking about what would you like to see change and what else is needed?
After the meeting there is the option to stay on and observe their board of trustees meeting (11.30am - 1.15pm), to see what goes into the running of Healthwatch and hear about their plans and priorities.
There is more information about the event at https://www.healthwatchnorthyorkshire.co.uk/event/2023-11-07/your-community-scarborough
Healthwatch has just published a report about Rural Health Inequalities and is calling for increased attention to address the rural health inequalities gripping the county, after speaking with the public, support organisations and healthcare professionals around living rurally and the challenges of accessing NHS services.
The report concludes that many people are struggling to access health care due to the increasing distance to services, inadequate public and community transportation (especially for older and more vulnerable people), and the inaccessibility of health care professionals.
The report says:
"We found that for many people across rural North Yorkshire, they were facing financial challenges, severe delays getting to hospital, feeling ‘dismissed’, and going without care for fear ‘they won’t do anything’; feelings that mirror the national healthcare crisis. Add to that living rurally and feeling ‘cut-off’, it’s a bleak reality for many"
The organisation is also due to publish a report shortly on the public's experiences of Urgent Healthcare in North Yorkshire, and is currently undertaking a survey to hear the experiences of young people in coastal communities.
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