As part of Healthwatch York’s core connectors project, 14 young volunteers spoke to more than 150 young people to find out more about their experiences of local health services, cost of living challenges and life in York.
Healthwatch York’s young volunteers then analysed the data and found four key themes:
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Food insecurity – including rising food prices which have led some young people to sacrifice nutrition due to high costs.
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Healthcare access – getting appointments, referrals and the high cost of prescriptions.
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Housing and financial strain – rising rent and housing costs, especially for students.
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Transport challenges – reliance on walking as car ownership is too expensive and bus fares have increased.
The young volunteers used the data to create a report and presentation outlining their findings. They presented this to the Health and Wellbeing Board in March, including their recommendations:
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Introduce cost of living support.
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Reduce waiting times for mental health support.
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Improve and speed up access to GP and NHS dental appointments.
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Create affordable social and community spaces, including sober spaces.
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Improve services supporting young people transitioning from children’s to adult services.
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Improve public transport.
Siân Balsom, the Manager of Healthwatch York said,
“We are so proud of our young volunteers. This report would not have been possible without their dedication and passion. Their detailed analysis of all the data and creation of an engaging and comprehensive report was more than we could have asked. They did all this despite the pressures of work and study and we are grateful for their time and expertise.“This is the start of more work to listen to the voices of young people and we look forward to continuing to work with young volunteers to listen to the issues young people are facing in our city.”
Healthwatch York would be delighted to hear from more young people aged 14 – 25.
Please share your experiences by email at healthwatch@yorkcvs.org.uk or by phone 01904 621133.