Our Greater Together Resilience Fund for 2025 is committed to building Healthy Communities, by supporting organisations that can make a difference to the health and wellbeing of our customers. Organisations bidding for the funding had to demonstrate how they are well equipped to do this, whether providing early intervention or preventative services, or community projects.
One such organisation is Healthwatch Sheffield. One of over 150 local branches of Healthwatch England (set up by the Health and Social Care Act 2012), the small team is contracted by Voluntary Action Sheffield. They work within the city to support people of all ages and backgrounds to ensure their voices are heard and their health needs are met by local services; from GPs to care homes. Healthwatch ensure this feedback is acted on and local people can access what they need.
Granted £10,000 of our fund, the organisation will be splitting this budget to work in our key neighbourhood of Richmond Park, and our anchor neighbourhood of Wybourn over the next twelve months to provide a mixture of information and advice as well as events and activities, tailored to the needs of the communities in each area.
Part one of their project took the form of asking, listening and advising. They began with meetings in Richmond Park and Wybourn respectively. In Richmond Park, Great Places representatives, residents and local organisations in addition to our usual partners attended, such as Sheffield Family Hubs, Woodhouse and District Community Forum and Athelstan Primary School. Over in Wybourn, partners included Manor Church and Community Project, Best Start, East Local Area Committee, SAVTE and of course, Wybourn Works. Healthwatch asked residents about local experiences of health and care services, what sorts of community provision they felt was missing, and what things they would benefit from receiving more information about. All the suggestions will be put towards their action plan for the next twelve months.
In Richmond Park, residents raised loneliness and isolation, as well as a lack of things to do for adults and children, as key barriers to wellbeing in the area. Suggestions for what could be done about this included coffee mornings, cooking lessons, toddler groups and youth groups, outdoor walking groups and chairobics sessions. It was emphasised that this has to cater for both younger and older residents. Residents also wanted to see more signposting to financial and health services, childcare and housing support, and make this information more visible by better using social media and noticeboards.
Similarly in Wybourn, residents called for more activities for older people, and specifically children aged 5 to 8 where an adult needs to be present to supervise, as well as activities for teenagers. Suggestions included exercise groups such as chairobics, walking and push pram groups, healthy eating and cooking classes, and skills-based classes such as IT and CV-building.
Healthwatch have also reached out beyond the community centres, visiting local groups and meeting with residents to scope their experiences of NHS and social care services, with mental health support being the most sought after.
After listening to this and mapping out what provision is currently in Wybourn, Richmond Park and their surrounding areas (including our own support through Great Places), Health Watch are currently building their action plan. Our Community Investment Team work hard to meet these areas outlined by residents, and it’s this sort of partnership working that will maximise our impact.
Winnie Lutakome, Community Outreach Lead for Healthwatch Sheffield, commented:
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Great Places for the funding, which has made this important work possible. We are grateful for the warm welcome from residents and look forward to continuing this meaningful work together with the local organisations to improve health and wellbeing in the area. We’re also excited about our upcoming Health and Wellbeing Community Fun Day at Richmond Park and Birklands Residents Community Centre on 6th August. This event will bring residents together with local services and offer services like free health checks, home energy-saving advice, mental health support, employment advice, wellbeing activities and games, information on health and social care, and more.
With a ‘Health and Wellbeing Community Fun Day’ to come later this summer over at Richmond Park, we look forward to touching base with Healthwatch Sheffield to see what else is in store!
