Empowering Voices: National Recognition our Community-Led Project for Social Care Improvements

News - 4 April 2025

Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham has been highly commended at a prestigious national awards ceremony for its efforts to enhance social care access for local residents.

The Healthwatch Impact Awards celebrate outstanding initiatives where people’s voices help shape and improve community care. Competing against 17 shortlisted projects from across England, Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham received top honours for its work in improving social care access for South Asian residents.

Following our report, the Safeguarding Adults Board took significant steps to strengthen engagement with the South Asian community. They collaborated with faith leaders, visited local places of worship, and improved access to social care information by introducing clearer translation options on the council website and distributing Urdu and Bengali leaflets. Insights from our report influenced service design, particularly in homecare and direct payments, and played a key role in shaping a new Learning Disability and Autism Strategy.

These efforts have had a measurable impact:
✅ Increased safeguarding awareness among South Asian residents
✅ Improved accessibility of social care information
✅ Enhanced culturally appropriate care delivery

Manisha Modhvadia, manager of Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham, expressed her gratitude:

“The team is absolutely delighted, but ultimately, this award belongs to everyone in Barking and Dagenham who contributed to improving social care for the South Asian community.

I hope this recognition encourages even more people to share their experiences of health and social care. This project proves what’s possible when the community speaks up, and services take action.”

Louise Ansari, Chief Executive of Healthwatch England, praised the team’s achievement:

“Every year, the quality of entries for our Impact Award is exceptional, and this year is no different.

However, this project stood out because it demonstrates the power of listening to local people and acting on their insights to improve health and social care. Congratulations to everyone involved.”

To read more about the annual Healthwatch Impact Awards, visit: Impact award: Outstanding work leads to first-ever joint win | Healthwatch

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