Healthwatch Rochdale wins contract to deliver local Maternity Voices Partnership in Rochdale and Oldham

Healthwatch Rochdale

Healthwatch Rochdale has been successful in winning a contract to deliver the local Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) in Rochdale and Oldham, supported in the project by Healthwatch Oldham.

The MVP is an NHS partnership group which includes women and their families who use maternity services and commissioners and providers (midwives and doctors). The aim of the MVP is to ensure that those who use maternity services get a chance to have their say about the care they are receiving. This feedback is then used to help shape and improve future service.

Healthwatch Rochdale is the independent voice for the people of the Rochdale borough and exist to give local people a say in influencing how local health and social care services are provided. The MVP complements the existing work of Healthwatch Rochdale in helping to ensure that people’s experiences of care are used to help shape and improve services.

 As part of the contract, Healthwatch Rochdale will:

• Recruit members to the partnership who are representative of the diverse communities within Rochdale and Oldham
• Manage local MVP meetings
• Recruit a chair who comes from and represents the views of local residents
• Make sure that  those from seldom heard groups are involved and get a chance to have their say
• Make sure that feedback from the partnership is used to shape and deliver maternity services that are suitable for local people

Healthwatch Rochdale is currently looking to recruit a new chair for the Rochdale and Oldham MVP which will be a renumerated role. The chair will be responsible for organising and facilitating the MVP in Rochdale and Oldham and support the NHS in the area to establish an effective and credible group.

Kate Jones, Healthwatch Rochdale Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to manage the local Maternity Voices Partnership. The whole ethos of Healthwatch Rochdale is to capture lived experience from local people and make sure this is used to improve health and care services. This project will run alongside our existing workplan and will complement the work we already do in making sure that people’s experience of care is used to improve how services are delivered.”

Ben Greenwood, Healthwatch Rochdale Interim Chair, said: “We are pleased to be able to deliver this important project and I look forward to progress this important piece of work.”

If you would like to know more about the Maternity Voices Partnership or are interested in the MVP Chair role and would like more information or an application pack, please email info@healthwatchrochdale.org.uk