Darcie was recently selected as one of four Young Healthwatch Northamptonshire volunteers to participate in Takeover Day at Kettering General Hospital.

Takeover Day sees organisations across England open their doors to children and young people who take over adult roles.  The day allowed Darcie and other Young Healthwatch volunteers to gain an insight into the work the staff do at Kettering General Hospital and the organisation was able to hear a fresh perspective from the young adults.

During the visit, Darcie attended a patient experience and took part in a meeting with senior staff about a new leaflet for patient. She also toured the Clinical Skills Lab and Pathology department to see what happens to a blood sample once it has been taken. Darcie and the other Young Healthwatch volunteers then presented their report of children’s service to staff of Kettering General Hospital.

Darcie said: ‘The day was really insightful and gave us the opportunity to make an impact and promote change within the hospital. The meeting about the patient leaflet allowed us to discuss what could be adapted to make it more appealing and easy for people our age to understanding. We suggested thing such as bullet points, shorter paragraphs and more visuals elements.’

Darcie has been part of Young Healthwatch for 3 Year after her mum, who works in the NHS, suggested it. Darcie wants to become a combat medic or engineer in the army.

‘Participating in Takeover Day and being part of the Young Healthwatch group has really helped me to gain a greater understanding of the medical profession. It is also really nice to be able to give something back and help people my own age. I have worked on projects based around Mental Health and Eating Disorders. Conducting surveys around these topics have them enabled us produce reports which can provide detailed information to Health Care professionals to help inform their work. ‘