February News

This month's newsletter is full of news and updates, including special events from our partners:

• We're recruiting! - Advisory Board 
• Introducing Healthy Heart
• Maternity & Neonatal Care
• Barnet Council Priorities - Have Your Say
• Consultation - GP Incentives 
• LGBT+ History Month

As always, you can contact us if you would like to share your views on health and social care in Barnet.

Advisory Board

Are you a Barnet resident, with experience of using local health or social care services? Please consider applying to join our Advisory Board.

Healthwatch Barnet is your local health and social care champion. Our Advisory Board supports our staff to deliver our work in the borough, and makes decisions about how we use our powers. It plays a key role in ensuring the involvement of local people in our work and decision-making, upholding our independence, and supporting us to work with other local organisations.   

We particularly welcome applications from groups that are less represented in senior NHS decision-making roles, including global majority candidates, disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, including mental health issues. 

The majority of board meetings will be online video calls, with some face to face meetings. This role is unpaid and voluntary, although travel expenses can be reimbursed. 

See our website for more information, and to apply, fill in this form.  

Introducing Healthy Heart

We're delighted to announce that the Healthy Heart project is now part of Healthwatch Barnet. 

The project is led by Judi, Riffat and Salna (pictured above). They are working with African, South Asian and Caribbean communities in Barnet to raise awareness of the risks of high blood pressure. 

We have some joint events coming up with Age UK - please join us: 

• 13 Feb, 2-3pm - The Old Library, The Concourse, Grahame Park NW9 5XA
• 15 Feb, 2-3pm - St. Margaret's Church, 1 Station Road, Edgware HA8 7JE

Our website contains a wealth of information about ways to manage your blood pressure including tips for healthy eating, and information about blood pressure monitoring. Contact the team: 0203 475 1316, texts: 0771 910 5534 (Mon-Thurs 9am-5pm), and email: healthyheart@healthwatchbarnet.co.uk

Maternity & Neonatal Care

Have your say on changes to maternity, neonatal, and children’s surgical services in north central London. The NHS are consulting on this until 17 March 2024. 

The NHS's key proposal is to close the maternity and neonatal unit at the Royal Free Hospital, invest around £40 million in maternity and neonatal facilities, and provide upgraded services at Barnet, North Middlesex, University College London and Whittington Hospitals.

In December, a BBC article set out arguments for and against the changes, with some interviewees sharing their concerns about the reduction in local care in the Camden area. Speaking in favour of the proposals, Dr Jo Sauvage, chief medical officer at the NHS NCL Integrated Care Board, told the BBC that half of the cots in the Royal Free neonatal unit were not in use on any given day. The NHS consultation says that one of the overall aims is to reduce the number of babies that are transferred to different hospitals, because specialist care is not available in the hospital where they are born. 

The NHS is considering a second option, of closing maternity and neonatal services at Whittington Hospital. However, they say that hospitals in north east London would struggle to meet the resulting demand. The NHS consultation states that the number of births in north west London is falling, and that hospitals in the area have confirmed they have capacity to absorb the closure of the Royal Free neonatal unit. 

Important issues are at stake, and a raft of other changes are being proposed, so do share your views, particularly if you have used these services in the past. As well as the online consultation, there is the option to respond over the phone on 0800 324 7005, ask for a printed questionnaire which you can post in, or request information in a different format or language. In the meantime, while the consultation is going on, all services will continue to run as usual.

Barnet Council Priorities

Do you live, work or study in Barnet? The council wants to hear about the issues that are important to you and your community, and any services you think could work better. To respond, fill in their survey by 21 February. 

Barnet Council has set up committees to look into which council and public services need improving, and how this could be done. As well as council services, they can consider other public services, including housing associations, police and the NHS. 

All of the survey responses will be considered by Barnet Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee this spring. The priorities that are agreed will form part of their work plan for 2024/25. 

To request a paper questionnaire, another format, or for someone to help you complete the questionnaire, please email scrutiny@barnet.gov.uk

Incentives & GP Surgeries

The government is consulting on the future of GP incentive schemes. To have your say, respond by 7 March. 

In England, GP surgeries are subject to two main incentive schemes, the Quality and Outcomes Framework and the Investment and Impact Fund. GP surgeries that achieve the targets set in these schemes receive more funding. 

The government is seeking people's views on whether these schemes are working, and how they could be improved. The consultation focuses on specific issues including health inequalities, whether some targets should be set locally, and how GPs can best support people with long term health conditions. 

For more information, see: Role of incentive schemes in general practice - GOV.UK

This February, we are celebrating LGBT+ History Month. This year's theme is medicine #UnderTheScope, and the focus will be on raising awareness of  LGBT+ communities' experiences of healthcare, both historically and today. 

LGBT+ people have made an amazing contribution as scientists and NHS staff, but still continue to face health inequalities in 2024. The LGBT+ history month website features videos about LGBT+ healthcare pioneers. 

We'd like to highlight the story of Dr Cecil Belfield Clarke, Barnet healthcare legend and anti-racist campaigner. Dr Belfield Clarke was born in Barbados and won a scholarship to study at Cambridge. He qualified as a GP and practiced near Elephant and Castle, before moving to Barnet with his partner Edward (Pat) Walter in the 1930s. 

Dr Belfield Clarke was a founding member of British civil rights group the 'League of Coloured Peoples'. During World War II, he continued to practice medicine, despite the risks of doing so during the Blitz. Eventually, his practice was the only building left standing in Newington Causeway. 

Dr Belfield Clarke's legacy influences the practice of medicine today - he developed Clark's rule, the formula used to calculate the correct dosage of medication for 2-17 year old children. A pillar of the local community, sources suggest that Dr Belfield Clarke was openly gay, often greeted together with his partner. He lived in Barnet with his partner until his death in 1970. 

If you would like to contact us with feedback or volunteer with us to help improve services in Barnet, please see the button below.