Prioritisation Panel 2019

The Regulations state that each local Healthwatch must have a procedure for making relevant decisions. It also states that members of the public must be able to have access to meetings where these decisions are being made. This procedure relates to how Healthwatch North Somerset (HWNS) makes decisions about what action to take about issues that are reported directly to Healthwatch, or that HWNS is made aware of through the activities of other organisations.

This will include making decisions about:

• making recommendations
• undertaking further investigations
• undertaking Enter and View visits
• referrals to Overview and Scrutiny
• referrals to regulators

Healthwatch North Somerset has established a Prioritisation Panel to assist staff and Board members to make decisions about what actions to take about issues that come into the organisation. The meetings are held quarterly (January, April, July, October) and minutes are taken to ensure a record of the discussions and decisions is made.