The national director of Healthwatch England will visit the county this week.

Imelda Redmond CBE, will be welcomed by Healthwatch Cumbria tomorrow and Wednesday.

Imelda is "passionate about championing patients’ needs" and ensuring that their views are listened to, says Healthwatch.

During her time in Cumbria she will meet with Cumbrian people, health and social care leaders and local authority representatives.

Her visit will start at the People First Conference Centre in Carlisle at 9.45am tomorrow.

After meeting the staff she will address the entire workforce, departing at 11.15am on the Healthwatch Cumbria Chatty Van.

She will then drive the Chatty Van via Keswick and the Whinlatter Pass to join Healthwatch Cumbria staff who will be promoting the new online Feedback Centre and speaking with patients attending the A & E department at West Cumberland Hospital.

On Wednesday morning Imelda and the Chatty Van will be in the centre of Penrith.

Healthwatch Cumbria is encouraging members of the public who want to share an experience of a health and/or care service to talk o the team at the above times. The team will be easy to find near the brightly coloured Healthwatch Chatty Van.

Feedback from patients is shared with staff and teams to help them to understand what is working well and how further improvements can be made.

The new Feedback Centre is available on the Healthwatch Cumbria website and accessible via a variety of devices including mobile phones, desktop PCs and tablets and can complement existing patient feedback methods.

Healthwatch Cumbria believes that by assisting patients and customers to express their views with ease we can help to instigate change and improvements within the health and social care arena.

David Blacklock, CEO, said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome the National Director of Healthwatch here to Cumbria. We very much hope that the experience Imelda has, both talking to patients at A&E and driving our Chatty Van around the Cumbria countryside, will give her some insight into the great work we are doing across all of Cumbria to ensure that peoples’ voices are heard and can help to drive improvement’s in health and care services."