News and reports

Advocacy services aim to ensure that if you find it difficult - for any reason - to have your voice heard about a decision that affects you, an advocate can support and represent you.

Detailing services available for carers within Surrey.

The following services are available to support children and young people in Surrey.

If you or someone you care for is experiencing a mental health crisis, it is important to know where to turn for urgent help. Healthwatch Surrey can signpost you to the right support, including crisis helplines and local and national services, for ongoing mental health and wellbeing support.

NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) provides a fully funded package of care for adults with significant ongoing health needs. Healthwatch Surrey can help you understand how CHC works, who may be eligible, and what to expect from the assessment and appeals process so you can feel informed and supported.

Sexual health services offer a range of services, including: testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), advice and information about sexual health, free condoms and other contraception – including emergency contraception, such as the morning after pill.

Many people are not aware that there is no centralised patient medical record. Records are held by the GP and by other groups (hospitals, care homes, clinics etc).

Non-GP records are only incorporated into the GP record if they are sent to the GP by the other source. This is sometimes done automatically, but often is not.

Understanding who local commissioners are and how they work can sometimes feel confusing. Healthwatch Surrey are here to help explain the role of local commissioners in health and social care, and how they make decisions and plan services to meet the needs of people in our communities.

Multiple online directories are available to help you find trusted information and local services to support your health, care and wellbeing.

Clear, timely and transparent communication makes a big difference to how patients experience their GP practice. Our guides and toolkits offer practical advice to help practices engage effectively with patients.

In light of the government’s proposals to abolish local Healthwatch and therefore remove the only collective, independent and statutory opportunity for the public to hold the NHS and social care system to account, local Healthwatch have put together a petition to protect the independent voice. This calls on the government to review the decision to abolish independent local Healthwatch. We ask for your support in signing it.

We are pleased to bring you our new public newsletter - keeping you informed of our latest work.