Healthwatch Leeds is here to help local people get the best out of their local health and care services by bringing their voice to those who plan and deliver services in Leeds. During 2025-26 we have done this by providing an information and signposting service, working with other organisations in Leeds to be able to provide members of the public with the best advice possible relating to their health and social care enquiries. In the period we have helped 8,166 people who have either contacted us directly or visited our information page on the website; offering advice on queries relating to mental health, dentistry, audiology, hospital services, complaints, GP access and many others. We have also provided information to the Care Quality Commission and local health and care commissioners and providers. Thousands of people shared their experiences of health and care services with us during the year which enabled us to publish 56 reports, videos and briefing papers outlining the improvements people would like to see in areas such as the NHS App, young peoples mental health and waiting lists. Significant pieces of work this year have included: Improving access for people in a Mental Health Crisis – NHS 111 is the main route to access mental health crisis services in the country. In Leeds the Single Point of Access was closed to the public. We listed to the experiences of 371 people about their experiences of accessing this and made improvements including call handler training, better support for carers and a new 24 hour text service. Bringing health closer to home: Neighbourhood Health – We went to where people are including construction sites, men’s groups, and community spaces to speak with 850 carers, young people, people living with long term conditions, people facing financial pressures and those that are often forgotten. This enabled us to turn their feedback into the blueprint for services across Leeds. Already one health Trust is training new staff about what people want, reviewing their self-management web page, making it easier for young people and carers to find health advice and book appointments together. The work is also influencing at a regional level. Young People shaping mental health services – our young volunteers met with the Childrens’ Society, website developers and Commissioners to advice on a young person mental health service called Time for Young People. Our young volunteers visited the site and spoke to young people that access the service. From all of this the website is now more accessible for young people, improved lighting in areas around the premises where young people felt unsafe, introduced a phone line, refined the sign up process and added clearer signage. We have also carried out work to improve GP care for Trans and Non-Binary people; shared experiences of how people access the NHS App with national developers; used peoples experiences to improve waiting times and helped health and care professionals use less jargon. Other major projects over the year have included the ‘How Does it Feel For Me’ Project – following the journeys of people with complex and long term health conditions, filming them over a 6 month period as they use health and care services in the city. This has helped NHS and Council organisations understand whether services feel joined up and delivered in a high quality way. We also carried out 11 visits to Aspire Learning Disability services (respite, day centre and supported living) which led to significant improvements to their services. Our Annual Report can be found on our website healthwatchleeds.co.uk

Our stakeholders are the people of Leeds. We carry out the 360 review survey each year. This is specifically sent to our volunteers, put on our website and shared in our bulletin. It is open to anyone in Leeds. It also goes to our stakeholders which includes Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, Leeds City Council, Leeds community Healthcare Trust, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Leeds and York partnership foundation trust, the Leeds Office of the ICB, local Councillors as well as third sector organisations in Leeds. We send out links to surveys when providing our information and sign posting service to find out if our service works well and we receive overwhelmingly positive feedback. We meet as a staff team and board of directors to review the feedback we have received and this forms part of our work plan for the next year (part of the 360 survey asks people if there are any areas they would like us to focus on).

3 Directors (2 of which are salaried staff – the CEO and Team Leader/Company Secretary) received remuneration for their work during the year. The total paid was £112K. No director received more than £60K All staff salaries including Director’s Remuneration are pegged to the NJC pay scale which is nationally agreed. The independent Directors review salary levels annually.

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