VOLUNTEER ROLE DESCRIPTION

Healthwatch Representative

Role Summary

The presence of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove (HW) is required at a large number of committees, forums and board meetings across the city. HW also receive many invitations to attend health and social care engagementevents. The representative role may therefore be for a specific and regular meeting or for a ‘one off’ event.

As a Healthwatch Representative you will sit on one or more of these bodies,and/or attend meetings representing the views of the people of Brighton and Hove. You will speak on behalf of Brighton and Hove residents and as a HW volunteer, and you will be required to report back.

Main duties

  • Attend specific meetings as a representative of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove.
  • Prepare for each meeting by reading all relevant paperwork.
  • Speak on behalf of HW.
  • Provide written feedback from each meeting and submit it within 7 days of the meeting.
  • Feedback on urgent issues to HW staff as soon as possible after the meeting.
  • Liaise with the HW staff team prior to meetings to ascertain key issues and information.
  • Comply with the values, policies and procedures and ‘ways of working’ of HW.
  • Attend volunteer support meetings.

Skills, abilities, attributes and experience required

Essential:

  • Ability to read and digest large amounts of written material.
  • Ability to represent the views of others objectively.
  • Ability to leave aside one’s own personal agenda and issues.
  • Willingness to speak in public.
  • Willingness to listen to and consider the views of others.
  • Confidence, tact and diplomacy coupled with tenacity and skills of persuasion.
  • Punctuality and reliability.

Preferred:

  • Experience of attending and speaking at meetings.
  • Experience of reviewing written materials.

Time commitment

Length of commitment required:minimum one year, this can be an academic year

Days, times and hours required: approximately eight hours per month

Criminal record check

No DBS check is required for this role.

What Healthwatch Brighton and Hove offers you

  • Valuable experience of working in a busy voluntary sector organisation.
  • Full induction training and opportunities for further training.
  • Mutual and collective support with other volunteers and the staff team.
  • Reimbursement of all out-of-pocket expenses.
  • A reference after six months’ service.

Top tips for Healthwatch representatives

Healthwatch representative volunteers, staff and Board members are often faced with situations where they are asked to give an opinion on a decision, change, policy or problem in a health or social care meeting or public forum.

First Top Tip – It is impossible for Healthwatch as an organisation to have an agreed policy or ‘view’ on the thousands of health and care issues that might arise in the dozens of meetings we attend. So we rely on all staff and volunteers to apply some simple ‘rule of thumb’ guides:

  • Our job is to make sure the decision makers are taking proper account of the views of patients and the public – so are those voices being heard and taken seriously?
  • We believe that the views of people who receive services should be central to the planning, commissioning, design and delivery of those services – is that happening?
  • It is obvious that there is rarely one patient or public voice – there are many. Some voices are louder than others and probably do not need our help to be heard e.g. political parties, trade unions, NHS and City Council managers. We should be checking and asking decision makers to check that they have heard from patients and the public who do not speak with a loud voice and who may not be organised or articulate and cannot easily express their own preferences and needs.

Second Top Tip– All our representative volunteers and staffwant to ‘make a difference’ sometimes it might be difficult to see how your contribution is changing things for the better. Our ability to influence decision makers is not always obvious and is often shared with others e.g. voluntary and community sector, carers, family and friends of patients. The tip is to make use of all the support arrangements we have to share the issues you see as important:

  • Attend our volunteer support meetings
  • Regularly check the Healthwatch web site and get involved contributing to our Facebook page
  • Attend Board meetings – they are nearly always open to the public and are advertised on the web site
  • Some volunteers and staff have specific areas of interest and may be a source of expertise e.g. Fran on BSUH and acute care, Bob Deschene on Primary Care, Neil McIntosh on Mental Health, Barbara Harris on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, David Liley on Caring Together, the STP and health and care integration + all press and media enquiries
  • If you have a specific query email or phone the office – you may not get an immediate response but we will get back to you asap. Remember it’s a small staff team most of whom are part time and we don’t get the job done sitting around the office – we are often out and about.

Healthwatch ‘Ways of Working’ and Values

Healthwatch is a small organisation with a very limited staff and volunteer team alongside ambitious targets and responsibilities.

As such there are a number of areas that should be seen as ‘everyone’s responsibility’ and organisational ‘ways of working’.

Our ways of working are about who we are as an organisation and what we need to do to succeed in the future. We also have a ‘Code of Conduct’ that applies to all staff, volunteers and Board members but it is also important that we all contribute actively to having a positive culture. Something beyond the ‘rules and regulations’ of a Code of Conduct. We aspire to being a learning organisation and cares for and nurtures everyone’s contribution, we have a collective responsibility to treat each other with respect, and shared values on matters of equality, diversity and inclusion.

By this we mean a general approach and culture that all Board members, volunteers and staff should embed into their day to day activities, roles and responsibilities:

  • Promoting and marketing HW proactively, e.g. taking leaflets to events, helping with social media accounts and promoting activities.
  • Engaging and encouraging the public to become actively involved in all aspects of Healthwatch work, e.g. consultations, volunteering and representative work.
  • Contributing articles to the HW newsletter, e.g. writing up a successful piece of work.
  • Adopting and practising an empowerment approach, such that volunteers, patients and the general public feel able to take action for themselves and/or build skills and experience.
  • Working in partnership and building good relationships with all stakeholders.
  • Identifying opportunities for new work and/or funding.
  • Contributing to the development of the organisation, its profile, impact and helping to foster a good ‘can do’ reputation.
  • Collecting evidence and actively contributing to monitoring and evaluation processes to demonstrate impact of work undertaken.
  • Contributing to planning and engaging positively in solution based working.
  • Representing Healthwatch positively at events and other activities.
  • Adopting and practising an equalities approach in all aspects of day to day work.
  • Supporting others in the organisation regardless of their role, e.g. helping volunteers coming into the office and providing help and information where possible to representatives or Board members.

VOLUNTEERS CODE OF CONDUCT

  • Healthwatch Brighton and Hove (Healthwatch) welcomes you as a volunteer and values and respects your knowledge and skills.
  • The aims of this Code of Conduct are to provide guidance for our volunteers on what is expected of them in terms of behaviour and actions when volunteering for Healthwatch, and to ensure that all volunteers are treated fairly and consistently.
  • Healthwatch has a Complaints Procedure, and Grievance Procedures for volunteers and staff. In the event of any complaint or grievance against you, your actions and behaviour will be judged solely against the terms of this Code of Conduct. In the event of an alleged breach of this Code of Conduct, Healthwatch’s Procedure for the Management of Volunteer Conduct and Capability may be used to investigate and deal with your actions and conduct.
  • This Code of Conduct applies to all Healthwatch volunteers, representatives and members of the Board of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove CIC. Members of staff are also expected to abide by its terms where applicable.

Volunteers will…

  1. read and adhere to all the relevant policies and procedures of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove;
  1. declare any conflict of interest, or anything that others might see as a conflict of interest, at the outset of their volunteering, and subsequently as soon as any arises;
  1. attend all induction sessions and training, and any other training necessary for the effective undertaking of their role;
  1. not accept any gifts or hospitality that could be seen as an attempt to influence their behaviour, actions or decisions, or the independence or activities of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove;
  1. never disclose confidential information except as required by law or allowed by the Healthwatch Brighton and Hove Confidentiality Policy;
  1. not pursue their own agenda, and when acting as a representative, will put forward the views of those they represent rather than their own;
  1. not speak, write, or attend any meeting, on behalf of Healthwatch Brighton and Hove without authorisation to do so by Healthwatch Brighton and Hove;
  1. report back to Healthwatch Brighton and Hove after attending any meeting as its representative;
  1. treat all colleagues, members of the public, and anyone with whom they are in contact as part of their voluntary duties, with dignity and respect, and not discriminate against them on the grounds of age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion or belief, or disability;
  1. not conduct themselves in such a way that could cause harm or distress to any colleague or member of the public, or could bring Healthwatch Brighton and Hove into disrepute
  1. be punctual and reliable, and inform a member of staff as soon as possible if they are unable to undertake their voluntary duties for any reason.

X/Healthwatch/Volunteers/Volunteer roles/Role descriptions/Representative Created: 31.10.13; reviewed: 24/2/2018