News and reports

Each local Healthwatch works in an area with its own unique issues but there are specific statutory activities which every local Healthwatch must undertake and it is important that this work is consistent.

This report outlines the funding each local Healthwatch has received to deliver their statutory activities based on survey results from 148 local Healthwatch, working across 152 local authority areas.

Our seven-point action plan to help ensure that the complaints system gives patients what they need and ensures the NHS and social care services can learn from their mistakes.

Our business plan outlines how we plan to meet our strategic priorities from April 2015 to March 2016.

Find out what happened at our public Committee Meeting.

Results from our Freedom of Information Request show care home residents and other social care users are not being given support to make a complaint about social care services.

Find out what we found when our network spoke to more than 11,000 people and visited over 550 GP surgeries, pharmacies and opticians across the country.

By analysing over 11,000 conversations the Healthwatch network has had with the public about this issue, we found five common areas where people wanted to see improvement.

We ask local Healthwatch every year to tell us what matters most to local people regarding health and social care. This year it was mental health that came out on top with 77 out of 152 local Healthwatch identifying it as a priority.

We have worked with users, providers and commissioners of complaints advocacy services to create a vision of what a good complaints advocacy service should look like.

Find out what happened at our public Committee Meeting.

Our new evidence raises further concerns about the defensive and obstructive culture around complaints in the NHS.