Who we are
Healthwatch Southwark is your local health and social care champion. If you use GPs and hospitals, dentists, pharmacies, care homes or other support services in your area, we want to hear about your experiences.
We are independent and have the power to make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers listen to local feedback and improve standards of care. We can also help you to find reliable and trustworthy information and advice.
Last year, the Healthwatch network helped nearly a million people like you to have your say and get the support you need. Healthwatch Southwark is part of a network of over 150 local Healthwatch across the country.
We’re here to listen to the issues that really matter to people in Southwark and to hear about your experiences of using local health and social care services. We’re entirely independent and impartial, and anything you share with us is confidential.
Healthwatch uses your feedback to better understand the challenges facing the NHS and other care providers and we make sure your experiences improve health and care for everyone – locally and nationally. We can also help you to get the information and advice you need to make the right decisions for you and to get the support you deserve.
It’s really important that you share your experiences – whether good or bad, happy or sad. If you’ve had a negative experience, it’s easy to think there’s no point in complaining, and that ‘nothing ever changes’. Or, if you’ve had a great experience, that you ‘wish you could say thank you’.
Remember, your feedback is helping to improve people’s lives. So, if you need advice, or you’re ready to tell your story – we’re here to listen.
Healthwatch Southwark is hosted by Community Southwark, a charity which works with the local voluntary and community sector.
What we do
- We listen to your experiences of health and care services in order to drive improvements.
- We provide information and signposting on local health and care services.
- We promote and support the involvement of patients and service users in the design, provision and scrutiny of local health and care services.
- We voice the views and concerns of local people in order to make health and social care services better.
How we do this
- We keep people informed through our website and ebulletins.
- We use a wide variety of tools (such as surveys, interviews, focus groups and events) to make it as easy as possible for you to have a say.
- We use our power to ‘Enter and View’ services to find out what it’s like for people using them.
- We work with local voluntary and community organisations in order to reach more people and to highlight inequalities.
- We produce reports and recommendations based on the evidence and insights you share.
- We use our seats on important decision making boards and committees to make sure your voice is heard at the top.
- We input into local consultations and monitoring systems, such as our three hospital trusts’ annual Quality Accounts.
- We share information and concerns with Healthwatch England (HWE) so that we can have an impact at a national level.
- We also work with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which is the national inspector and regulator for health and social care services.
Find out more about our core activities
