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Healthwatch Solihull responded to the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy, you can read our response here

Online survey consultation, key points we raised were

• People in Solihull tell us that Housing and Healthcare need to work better together. Housing need to ensure that they are considering the different offer from healthcare across Solihull, and the accessibility to medical letters which need to be paid for, and how this can affect people on lower incomes.
• This consultation has only been made available online with users requiring an account to submit a response. We feel that this is limiting the number of people who are able to respond which is in turn limiting how well this consultation represents the views of the people of Solihull. People in need of housing or homeless people may be less likely to have ease of access to the internet which may mean people who are directly affected by this consultation are unable respond. It is also disappointing to see that the strategy document is only available in its current format. Both the survey and strategy document should also be provided in more accessible formats in order to receive feedback from individuals with additional sensory and language needs. It should be a priority to make consultations accessible to as many people as possible. This will ensure that the final strategy is able to meet the needs of as many people as possible within Solihull.

Healthwatch Solihull are proud to present our 2023-24 annual report, showing how we have used what local people have told us about their own experiences of health and social care services to drive the changes they need.

This year we have heard from 4,500 people from right across the Borough. By acting as the voice of local service users, we have addressed issues such as:

• Impact of the cost-of-living crisis on people’s health
• Urgent Care in Solihull
• Support for prostate cancer patients
• Patient safety at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB)

At a time when the NHS and local authority services are under great pressure, Healthwatch Solihull’s role as an independent public champion is more vital than ever.We would like to thank the public, our volunteers, stakeholders and third sector organisations for their support this year.

This report analyses the experiences of over 250 people who have used NHS Community Pharmacy services in Solihull.