From July 2022 to March 2026, West Yorkshire Voice was coordinated by West Yorkshire Healthwatch, a collaboration of Healthwatch organisations across West Yorkshire. By March 2026, the network had grown to almost 700 members, connecting 381 individuals and 258 organisations and groups with opportunities to help shape health and care.
Responsibility for coordinating West Yorkshire Voice moved to NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board in April 2026. As part of this transition, West Yorkshire Healthwatch undertook an evaluation to understand what has worked, what difference West Yorkshire Voice has made and what we should learn for its future development.
West Yorkshire Voice Evaluation report June 2026- Executive Summary
How was the evaluation carried out?
The evaluation brings together learning from the work of West Yorkshire Voice between 2022 and 2026 alongside feedback from members of the network.
Healthwatch gathered feedback through a survey and individual conversations. The member survey received 41 responses: 24 from individual members, 10 from group members and seven from people working within West Yorkshire or local ICB or Health and Care Partnership arrangements.
This helped identify what people valued about West Yorkshire Voice, the challenges they experienced and what they thought should happen next.
What has West Yorkshire Voice achieved?
The evaluation found evidence that people’s voices have influenced policy, strategy and service improvement across West Yorkshire.
This has included bringing lived experience directly into ICB Board discussions and contributing to work on mental health, primary care, hospital care, maternity, children and young people, older people and health inequalities.
West Yorkshire Voice has also contributed to work on neurodiversity, the ICB’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, non-emergency patient transport and inclusion health. Insight gathered about people’s experiences of managing their own health is helping to inform the development of neighbourhood health.
What have we learned?
The evaluation identified some important principles that will help us develop West Yorkshire Voice in the future:
- Relationships and trust matter. Successful involvement isn’t simply about how many people join a network. We need to invest time in relationships and reach people in places where they already feel comfortable.
- People value independence. Some people feel more comfortable sharing honest feedback through an independent organisation, and maintaining trust, transparency and independent challenge will continue to be important.
- People need to know what happened next. We need to get better at showing people how their views have influenced decisions – including when something cannot be changed and explaining why.
- We need to actively reach different communities. Traditional approaches such as surveys will not reach everyone. Working with trusted community organisations and going out into communities can help us hear from people who might otherwise be missed.
- Accessibility needs to be built in from the beginning. People need different and accessible ways to take part, including support for people with additional communication needs, disabilities or who experience digital exclusion.
What happens next?
We will use the findings to help shape the next stage of West Yorkshire Voice.
The evaluation recommends protecting and strengthening trust, continuing to invest in relationships with communities, improving how we tell people about the difference their involvement has made, prioritising communities experiencing the greatest inequalities and making accessibility part of all involvement activity.
It also recommends creating more opportunities for co-production and shared decision-making and continuing to offer different ways for people to share their experiences rather than relying mainly on surveys.
We will take these lessons forward working with the West Yorkshire Voice Steering Group to develop within West Yorkshire Voice into the Future.
Read the evaluation
If you would like to find out more, you can read the full evaluation or a shorter summary of the findings:
West Yorkshire Voice Evaluation Report – June 2026
West Yorkshire Voice Evaluation – Executive Summary
We would like to thank everyone who has helped develop West Yorkshire Voice and, particularly, the individuals and groups who have given their time and shared their experiences. Their contribution has helped influence health and care decision-making across West Yorkshire.