Staff at Airedale Hospital have helped show their appreciation for an independent organisation’s health and social care outreach work.

They have been celebrating Health-watch Bradford and District’s first birthday. The body was set up to help the public get the best out of health and social care by giving it a stronger voice in decision-making. It holds monthly outreach sessions in the hospital’s outpatients wing.

Karen Dunwoodie, patient experience lead for Airedale NHS Found-ation Trust, said: “We’re extremely grateful to Healthwatch for holding sessions on our site.

“This helps patients and visitors to talk about their experiences of healthcare, whether they are in the hospital or elsewhere, with the comfort of knowing Healthwatch is an independent organisation.

“The anonymous feedback helps us gain a greater understanding of different patient experiences, and we can use this to improve services.”

Brenda Emsley, sister in outpatients at Airedale, said: “Healthwatch is a very useful way of allowing patients to talk about their care face-to-face with someone, and it helps us to shape our services.”