Speaking up for better care: Our Annual Report 2025/26
Our vision is to reduce health inequalities by ensuring every community voice is heard, valued and able to influence better health and social care. Throughout 2025/26, we continued to build the foundations of Healthwatch North Northamptonshire while increasing the opportunities for local people to tell us what is working well and where services need to improve.
Our year in numbers
During 2025/26, 502 people shared their experiences of health and social care services with us, while 210 people came to us to talk about accessing services or difficulties booking appointments. We also published five reports highlighting improvements people would like to see, including our Enter and View report into paediatric services at Kettering General Hospital.
Getting out into communities has been an important part of our work. Over the year, we delivered five Community Health and Wellbeing Events, helped facilitate 35 free health checks, held eight community surgeries and completed more than 30 community drop-ins alongside voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations.
Listening to what matters to local people
Access to primary care was one of the important themes people raised with us. Of the experiences gathered, 38% related to GP surgeries, with 20% reporting difficulties booking GP appointments and 7% reporting difficulties using Anima. We will use this insight in discussions with primary care providers and Integrated Care Board partners to better understand the barriers people face and how access can be improved.
We have also worked to make Healthwatch more visible and accessible. This has included community surgeries and drop-ins, outreach in shopping centres and supermarkets, and working alongside trusted local organisations.
Hearing from all our communities
We want everyone in North Northamptonshire to have the opportunity to shape local health and social care, particularly people and communities whose voices are less often heard.
During the year, we held drop-ins in community spaces supporting people experiencing homelessness, drug and alcohol dependencies and mental health difficulties. We also worked with trusted community organisations to reach Black communities, and supported refugees and people seeking asylum to better understand and access health and social care, including help with GP registration, interpreter services and finding the right support.
Turning experiences into action
Listening is only part of our role. We take what people tell us to the organisations and decision-makers who can make a difference.
One example this year was our Enter and View visit to paediatric services at Kettering General Hospital. Families highlighted uncertainty around waiting times, leading us to recommend clearer information about departmental waits and delays for patients awaiting transfer.
We also supported individuals directly. This included advocating for an expectant parent following changes to local maternity services and helping someone experiencing significant ongoing pain to secure an urgent pain-management appointment.
Thank you to our volunteers and partners
None of this work happens in isolation. Our volunteers have supported Enter and View visits, represented local voices at meetings and played an important role in our community health and wellbeing events. Their time, compassion and commitment have helped us reach more people and better understand their experiences.
We have also worked closely with health, public health, voluntary and community organisations, while establishing an 18-member Advisory Group bringing together lived experience and representatives from health, social care and the voluntary and community sector to help shape our priorities.
Looking ahead to 2026/27
Our work continues. Over the coming year, we will focus particularly on reaching people in the most deprived areas and communities whose voices can too often go unheard.
Our three priorities are Public Health, including targeted engagement with Black communities to increase participation in Community NHS Health Checks; Primary Care, supporting engagement with communities around new models of care in East Northamptonshire; and Strategic Volunteering, developing a sustainable volunteer network that helps us hear from communities across North Northamptonshire.
Most importantly, we want local people to keep talking to us. Whether you have had a positive experience, struggled to access the care you need, or have an idea about how a service could be better, your experience matters.
By sharing your story with Healthwatch North Northamptonshire, you can help us make sure local voices continue to shape better health and social care.
Read our full Annual Report 2025/26 below to find out more about what we heard, the difference your feedback has made and our priorities for the year ahead.
