News and reports

Inside this pack, you will discover a wealth of valuable advice and information that you can effortlessly share to raise awareness about the various support options provided by HEAT for UK households.

Sandwell All Age Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Directory for 2025

This is the 3rd edition of the directory for children, young adults, and families.

The services listed have confirmed their funding for 2025-2026, ensuring their availability and support throughout the year.

At the beginning of this year, we conducted our listening survey. We listening to peoples experiences of health and social care services and asked them what they think our priorities should be for 2025/26.

“At Let’s Talk we support anyone 18+ that’s feeling lonely/isolated in the Black Country. I cover the Sandwell area. We offer up to 6, 1-1 sessions tailored to each individual. These are focused on building up their confidence/tackling barriers they are facing by signposting towards social activities, services and volunteering. We also support them into these by attending with them if needed.

We also have our own virtual and face to face group sessions and walks. There is no end date to these and they can attend for as long as they like!

Participants can self-refer/be referred into the service by using the referral form attached and forwarding this to our inbox - bchft.letstalk@nhs.net

For more information please contact
M: 07909 934159
E: arfan.zaman@nhs.net”

Take a look at what Healthwatch Sandwell have been doing during March !

Here are the meeting minutes from our Independent Advisory Board Meeting, which was held 4 December 2024

We will be holding our ISAB meeting on 9th April, to join, please contact us at info@healthwatchsandwell.co.uk for teams invite!

A child or young person (0-25) is said to have SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability which requires special educational provision to be made for them in order to support them to progress. Local service provision is governed by Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015, although other legislation, such as the Equality Act 2010, is also relevant. The introduction of the Children and Families Act and SEND Code of Practice placed greater emphasis on the inclusion of children, young people, parents and carers in planning and decision-making, as well as on supporting aspirations and improving outcomes. This should be facilitated by strengthening joint planning and commissioning of services and the publication of a Local Offer, listing information about local SEND support.

Healthwatch England says “Eye care is the busiest outpatient speciality in the NHS in England, and with an ageing population, demand is set to grow further. According to NHS statistics, of the nearly 59,000 people currently waiting for specialist eye care as of December 2024, only two thirds (66.8%) have been waiting less than the 18-week target set by Government, compared to a target of 92%.”

The Black Country LMNS (Local Maternity and Neonatal System) are currently working to improve the Pelvic Health Care that you receive from the NHS during and after pregnancy. Pelvic health problems may include leaking of urine (pee) and/or stool (poo), prolapse (bulging or swelling), injuries and infection in the area between the vagina and anus, pelvic girdle pain (pain in the pelvic area and/or back) and abdominal rectus diastasis (tummy muscle separation).

One of HWS priorities for 2023/24 is to focus on engaging with under representative groups in Sandwell. Through our engagement work, we found that a big topic for discussion were the issues with accessing GP services. The use of digital applications
(apps) was raised as an area concern for conversation.

We have carried out a project that looks at the experiences of people accessing and using digital applications (apps) for GP services, and the barriers to using them. This report will focus primarily on the NHS app, also referenced is the Air mid app.

This January we have visited a number of places to listen to local people share their feedback on services.