News and reports

Joe and Gaynor visited the Loftus Club to speak with members of the public attending The Bread and Butter Thing—a UK charity that brings affordable, nutritious food to low-income families while helping reduce food waste. The session provided an important opportunity to gather feedback from East Cleveland residents about local health services and the challenges they face.

Recently, Healthwatch South Tees, Together Teesside, and Tees Community Dental Service joined forces to deliver an informal health drop‑in session at a women’s refuge in Middlesbrough.
The goal was clear: to make accessing health support as easy, comfortable, and stigma‑free as possible for residents who may otherwise face significant barriers to seeking help.

At our recent visit to the Last Hope Group in Redcar, we carried out a series of healthy heart checks for people affected by homelessness.

Survivors of sexual violence often face barriers to cervical screening. Survivors, Arch, Public Health, the ICB, Healthwatch Middlesbrough and community organisations came together to create a trauma-informed card that helps survivors communicate their needs, without having to disclose past trauma.

Healthwatch teams across Tees Valley, County Durham and North Yorkshire worked together to support community engagement around the development of the University Hospitals Tees Group Model. This work was carried out in partnership with North Tees & Hartlepool and South Tees NHS Foundation Trusts and reflects the voices of over 380 people across the region.

Healthwatch teams across the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) worked collaboratively to support regional engagement around women’s health, aligning with the national Women’s Health Strategy for England.

Healthwatch NENC has worked closely with the ICB to support the development of the region’s Oral Health and Dental Strategy, which was officially published in October 2025.

As part of a request from the ICB, Healthwatch teams across the North East and North Cumbria supported a rapid engagement exercise to gather feedback on the WorkWell programme, a service designed to help people with long-term health conditions stay in or return to work.

Throughout November 2025, Healthwatch teams across the North East and North Cumbria worked together to understand how well people know about the new services available at their local pharmacy.

Healthwatch teams across the North East and North Cumbria began a coordinated awareness campaign in October 2025 to support the rollout of the Primary Care Access Recovery Programme (PCARP). This initiative, funded by the ICB, aims to improve public understanding and use of key NHS services that offer faster, more convenient access to care.

Healthwatch teams across the North East and North Cumbria began coordinated engagement in early January 2026 to support the ICB’s work on developing a new End of Life and Palliative Care Strategy. The project aims to gather public insight into people’s views, experiences and expectations around end of life care, including those with no direct experience to inform a comprehensive regional needs assessment.

Hospital discharge was identified as a key quality priority for the Trust in 2025/2026. In response, we were invited to lead a collaborative engagement initiative focused on improving discharge processes and patient outcomes.