Welcome to Healthwatch Westmorland and Furness

Health and care systems often focus on a person’s ill health and their treatment, however only 10-20% of health outcomes are influenced by clinical care. The remaining 80-90% is linked to healthy choices, social and economic factors, and our environment.

To create healthier communities, there is a need to focus on what we can do to prevent ill health. Local communities and the people using health and care services are best placed to understand what they need to help them thrive. Therefore, we need to listen and involve our communities as active partners in decisions about their wellbeing, as they know what is working and what could be made better.

Afterall, when we work together, we are more likely to create the right plans to improve the health of our population, deliver more effective services and reduce the inequalities that exist in North Cumbria.

A key role of Healthwatch is to speak to the public about their experiences of health and care services. This is so that we can make recommendations to decision-makers on how to improve the services they are delivering, enacting positive change.

Here 4 You is the first collaborative engagement project from Healthwatch Cumberland and Healthwatch Westmorland & Furness.

The project was designed to allow us to hear what matters most to local residents so that we could address the key issues in our upcoming projects. It is all part of our continued efforts to keep the public involved in everything we do and tackle the subjects that really matter to them.