Across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, health and care organisations strive to provide safe and effective services, but the way some services are run may need to change. This is partly because of a growing population and rising demands on services, and making the best of the resources available.

Due to the size of the challenge, health and social care bodies in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are working together on a plan, the Draft Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) to help make sure health and care services are safe and sustainable for the future.

In Herefordshire, Healthwatch champion the views of patients and the public on all matters to do with health and social care. They collect your views and listen to your experiences, and feed that information back to service providers and commissioners to help improve services based on what you’ve told them.

A roadshow for local residents to find out more about the Draft Sustainability and Transformation Plan, which was due to be held at Ross-on-Wye Community Hospital on Monday, January 9th, from 9.30am until 12pm, was postponed.

Wards at the hospital had to be closed to visitors on December 30th, due to a Norovirus outbreak. These restrictions were eased on Saturday afternoon (January 7th), but Paul Deneen OBE JP DL, Chair of Healthwatch Herefordshire, told the Ross Gazette that they decided that it would be more sensible to postpone the event, and arrange it for a later date.

At the full meeting of Ross-on-Wye Town Council on Monday, January 9th, Paul Deneen apologised to Councillors that the roadshow had been postponed, but he said that a date has been reset for January 23rd. It will be held at Ross Community Hospital from 10am until 12.30pm

Mr Deneen said that the aim of the roadshow was for Healthwatch Herefordshire members to speak to patients and service users to collect their opinions.

Councillor Nigel Gibbs, the deputy Mayor of Ross-on-Wye, told Mr Deneen that he had been to attend the roadshow that morning. He said: “The parking situation was worse than normal.” He suggested that the rearranged roadshow could be held at the Larruperz Centre.

Mr Deneen said this would not be appropriate as they wanted to gather hospital service users opinions on a one-to-one basis, rather than in the style of a lecture. He added that he thought the busy scene of the car park had not been caused by the roadshow, but rather the norovirus; as wards had been closed to visitors for more than a week, he said that it was possible more people were going to the hospital to visit their loved ones.

Healthwatch has been working with local groups to better understand the needs and requirements of patients in a sustainable health and care system. It is important you have your say and you can do this by completing the online survey: www.healthwatchherefordshire.co.uk/survey

Healthwatch will be feeding the information gathered from the survey and further engagement activity back to service providers and commissioners of services, so they are included in the shaping of plans for services going forward.

To see the STP, visit www.hacw.nhs.uk/yourconversation. For more information about Healthwatch Herefordshire and their work visit www.healthwatchherefordshire.co.uk or call the office on 01432 364481.