Welcome to the health section of our website. The forum has been working closely with NHS Wandsworth, the local Primary Care Trust*, for a number of years to ensure that local health services listen to the voices of the Wandsworth LGBT Communities. The National Health Service is here for all and it has a duty to listen to what we have to say about local services. It is particularly important at the moment, with the NHS going through major changes in how services are commissioned, provided and delivered.
We have developed a good working relationship with NHS Wandsworth over recent years and have worked with them on a number of health issues. NHS Wandsworth regularly makes presentations about local health issues to the Forum. The Forum is represented on the PCT’s Thinking Partners Group, which deals with equality and diversity issues and we are supporting the PCT in its role as a Stonewall Diversity champion, a scheme to ensure that it is a good employer from a LGBT perspective.
We would strongly urge all our LGBT friends living or working in Wandsworth to help inform the local development of health services and to ensure that all health services are LGBT friendly and designed so that people are comfortable and confident in using them.
* A primary care trust is the organisation responsible for ensuring that all healthcare needs are provided for, across a geographical area. These range from GP and dental services to major hospitals and health initiatives. Our local primary care trust is NHS Wandsworth.
Wandsworth Youth Health Jury
In 2008, Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Development Agency (WVSDA) were commissioned through Race for Health funding to develop a 12 month programme to better understand young people’s views and perceptions of health services in Wandsworth. In August 2008, Wandsworth Youth Health Jury (YHJ) was established as a direct result of this youth engagement project to empower young people to have their say on health services in the borough.
What’s in it for you?
Becoming part of the YHJ will give you the opportunity to:
- Learn new skills
- Meet other young people with similar interests
- Have fun!
What does it involve?
Joining is simple (just give us a shout on the details below) and you don’t have to give up too much of your time – just one meeting a month and it’s totally up to you how much you join in other activities.
To give you a taster of what the YHJ has been up to recently, we have made a film about our work, assisted NHS Wandsworth with a Mental Health Needs Assessment for young people and recently held a Workshop for Health Professionals in Wandsworth to showcase our work, which was very positively received!
We care about your views and we want to empower you to help us make decisions that will benefit the young people of Wandsworth.
You’re welcome
- Want to be part of an exciting project aimed at improving health services for young people?
- Always wanted to be a mystery shopper?
- Want to help NHS managers to make decisions on whether services in Wandsworth really are young-people friendly?
We are looking for young people who want to get involved in the ‘You’re Welcome’ project by training as mystery shoppers and making sure that we are providing you with a wide choice of health services that are:
- Easy to get to and use
- Suitable to your needs
- Of a high quality
If you would like to help influence how services are provided and developed, or simply want to know what is happening about health, there are a number of ways you can make this happen. Contact the Patient and Public Involvement Team who can suggest the best way for this to happen for you.